BLOODY KNIFE STRING LIGHTS Sound & Halloween Theme Music battery powered rare

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Seller: sidewaysstairsco ✉️ (1,180) 100%, Location: Santa Ana, California, US, Ships to: US & many other countries, Item: 196058267878 BLOODY KNIFE STRING LIGHTS Sound & Halloween Theme Music battery powered rare. Check out our store for more great new and used items! FOR SALE: An awesomely macabre, battery-powered light set from the 2018 Halloween season BLOODY KNIVES STRING LIGHT SET W/ MUSIC & SOUND DETAILS: Lights flash and eerie music & sound plays (Halloween theme-like)! When activated these gruesome but awesome knife-shaped lights flash a hauntingly beautiful blood-red hue and music and sound begin to play . The bloody knives are perfectly complemented by the bone-chilling sound effects and spine-tingling music reminiscent of the ominous piano main theme from John Carpenter's iconic horror film, Halloween . Suspended on the string are eight bloody knife lights; 4 cleaver style knives and 4 chef style knives. To operate product in manual activation mode, slide the 3-way switch to "OFF" for try me function. To operate product in light up & music mode, turn switch to "MUSIC/LIGHT" or to "ON" for light up operation only. We believe the re's a sound or light sensor, embedded in the battery pack, that activates the music/sound and lights when in "MUSIC/LIGHT" mode. • For indoor use. • Lighted length: 6.6 ft (2 m); Total length: 6.9 ft (2.1 m) Battery operated - requires (3) "AA" batteries (not included). Please note the original demo batteries were removed to avoid damage. A must-have for slasher film fanatics! Makes a wonderfully macabre gift for the horror fiend and collector, especially those who love the influential classic, Halloween . A rare horror-themed find! The 8 count battery-powered LED bloody knives string light set was manufactured exclusively for the 2018 Halloween season. Because this Halloween-themed decoration is no longer produced or available in stores it has become a hard-to-find product - making it a collectible and rare. CONDITION: New in packaging. Packaging may have pen marking (not shown). Please see photos. To ensure safe delivery, item will be carefully packaged before shipping.     THANK YOU FOR LOOKING. QUESTIONS? JUST ASK. *ALL PHOTOS AND TEXT ARE INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY OF SIDEWAYS STAIRS CO. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.* "Halloween or Hallowe'en (less commonly known as Allhalloween,[5] All Hallows' Eve,[6] or All Saints' Eve)[7] is a celebration observed in many countries on 31 October, the eve of the Western Christian feast of All Saints' Day. It begins the observance of Allhallowtide,[8] the time in the liturgical year dedicated to remembering the dead, including saints (hallows), martyrs, and all the faithful departed.[9][10][11][12] In popular culture, the day has become associated with the macabre and supernatural and as a secular celebration of horror.[13] One theory holds that many Halloween traditions were influenced by Celtic harvest festivals, particularly the Gaelic festival Samhain, which are believed to have pagan roots.[14][15][16][17] Some go further and suggest that Samhain may have been Christianized as All Hallow's Day, along with its eve, by the early Church.[18] Other academics believe Halloween began solely as a Christian holiday, being the vigil of All Hallow's Day.[19][20][21][22] Celebrated in Ireland and Scotland for centuries, Irish and Scottish immigrants took many Halloween customs to North America in the 19th century,[23][24] and then through American influence various Halloween customs spread to other countries by the late 20th and early 21st century.[13][25] Popular Halloween activities include trick-or-treating (or the related guising and souling), attending Halloween costume parties, carving pumpkins or turnips into jack-o'-lanterns, lighting bonfires, apple bobbing, divination games, playing pranks, visiting haunted attractions, telling scary stories, and watching horror or Halloween-themed films.[26] Some people practice the Christian observances of All Hallows' Eve, including attending church services and lighting candles on the graves of the dead,[27][28][29] although it is a secular celebration for others.[30][31][32] Some Christians historically abstained from meat on All Hallows' Eve, a tradition reflected in the eating of certain vegetarian foods on this vigil day, including apples, potato pancakes, and soul cakes.[33][34][35][36] Etymology "Halloween" (1785) by Scottish poet Robert Burns, recounts various legends of the holiday. The word Halloween or Hallowe'en ("Saints' evening"[37]) is of Christian origin;[38][39] a term equivalent to "All Hallows Eve" is attested in Old English.[40] The word hallowe[']en comes from the Scottish form of All Hallows' Eve (the evening before All Hallows' Day):[41] even is the Scots term for "eve" or "evening",[42] and is contracted to e'en or een;[43] (All) Hallow(s) E(v)en became Hallowe'en. History Christian origins and historic customs Halloween is thought to have influences from Christian beliefs and practices.[44][45] The English word 'Halloween' comes from "All Hallows' Eve", being the evening before the Christian holy days of All Hallows' Day (All Saints' Day) on 1 November and All Souls' Day on 2 November.[46] Since the time of the early Church,[47] major feasts in Christianity (such as Christmas, Easter and Pentecost) had vigils that began the night before, as did the feast of All Hallows'.[48][44] These three days are collectively called Allhallowtide and are a time when Western Christians honour all saints and pray for recently departed souls who have yet to reach Heaven. Commemorations of all saints and martyrs were held by several churches on various dates, mostly in springtime.[49] In 4th-century Roman Edessa it was held on 13 May, and on 13 May 609, Pope Boniface IV re-dedicated the Pantheon in Rome to "St Mary and all martyrs".[50] This was the date of Lemuria, an ancient Roman festival of the dead.[51] In the 8th century, Pope Gregory III (731–741) founded an oratory in St Peter's for the relics "of the holy apostles and of all saints, martyrs and confessors".[44][52] Some sources say it was dedicated on 1 November,[53] while others say it was on Palm Sunday in April 732.[54][55] By 800, there is evidence that churches in Ireland[56] and Northumbria were holding a feast commemorating all saints on 1 November.[57] Alcuin of Northumbria, a member of Charlemagne's court, may then have introduced this 1 November date in the Frankish Empire.[58] In 835, it became the official date in the Frankish Empire.[57] Some suggest this was due to Celtic influence, while others suggest it was a Germanic idea,[57] although it is claimed that both Germanic and Celtic-speaking peoples commemorated the dead at the beginning of winter.[59] They may have seen it as the most fitting time to do so, as it is a time of 'dying' in nature.[57][59] It is also suggested the change was made on the "practical grounds that Rome in summer could not accommodate the great number of pilgrims who flocked to it", and perhaps because of public health concerns over Roman Fever, which claimed a number of lives during Rome's sultry summers.[60][44] On All Hallows' Eve, Christians in some parts of the world visit cemeteries to pray and place flowers and candles on the graves of their loved ones.[61] Top: Christians in Bangladesh lighting candles on the headstone of a relative. Bottom: Lutheran Christians praying and lighting candles in front of the central crucifix of a graveyard. By the end of the 12th century, the celebration had become known as the holy days of obligation in Western Christianity and involved such traditions as ringing church bells for souls in purgatory. It was also "customary for criers dressed in black to parade the streets, ringing a bell of mournful sound and calling on all good Christians to remember the poor souls".[62] The Allhallowtide custom of baking and sharing soul cakes for all christened souls,[63] has been suggested as the origin of trick-or-treating.[64] The custom dates back at least as far as the 15th century[65] and was found in parts of England, Wales, Flanders, Bavaria and Austria.[66] Groups of poor people, often children, would go door-to-door during Allhallowtide, collecting soul cakes, in exchange for praying for the dead, especially the souls of the givers' friends and relatives. This was called "souling".[65][67][68] Soul cakes were also offered for the souls themselves to eat,[66] or the 'soulers' would act as their representatives.[69] As with the Lenten tradition of hot cross buns, soul cakes were often marked with a cross, indicating they were baked as alms.[70] Shakespeare mentions souling in his comedy The Two Gentlemen of Verona (1593).[71] While souling, Christians would carry "lanterns made of hollowed-out turnips", which could have originally represented souls of the dead;[72][73] jack-o'-lanterns were used to ward off evil spirits.[74][75] On All Saints' and All Souls' Day during the 19th century, candles were lit in homes in Ireland,[76] Flanders, Bavaria, and in Tyrol, where they were called "soul lights",[77] that served "to guide the souls back to visit their earthly homes".[78] In many of these places, candles were also lit at graves on All Souls' Day.[77] In Brittany, libations of milk were poured on the graves of kinfolk,[66] or food would be left overnight on the dinner table for the returning souls;[77] a custom also found in Tyrol and parts of Italy.[79][77] Christian minister Prince Sorie Conteh linked the wearing of costumes to the belief in vengeful ghosts: "It was traditionally believed that the souls of the departed wandered the earth until All Saints' Day, and All Hallows' Eve provided one last chance for the dead to gain vengeance on their enemies before moving to the next world. In order to avoid being recognized by any soul that might be seeking such vengeance, people would don masks or costumes".[80] In the Middle Ages, churches in Europe that were too poor to display relics of martyred saints at Allhallowtide let parishioners dress up as saints instead.[81][82] Some Christians observe this custom at Halloween today.[83] Lesley Bannatyne believes this could have been a Christianization of an earlier pagan custom.[84] Many Christians in mainland Europe, especially in France, believed "that once a year, on Hallowe'en, the dead of the churchyards rose for one wild, hideous carnival" known as the danse macabre, which was often depicted in church decoration.[85] Christopher Allmand and Rosamond McKitterick write in The New Cambridge Medieval History that the danse macabre urged Christians "not to forget the end of all earthly things".[86] The danse macabre was sometimes enacted in European village pageants and court masques, with people "dressing up as corpses from various strata of society", and this may be the origin of Halloween costume parties.[87][88][89][72] In Britain, these customs came under attack during the Reformation, as Protestants berated purgatory as a "popish" doctrine incompatible with the Calvinist doctrine of predestination. State-sanctioned ceremonies associated with the intercession of saints and prayer for souls in purgatory were abolished during the Elizabethan reform, though All Hallow's Day remained in the English liturgical calendar to "commemorate saints as godly human beings".[90] For some Nonconformist Protestants, the theology of All Hallows' Eve was redefined; "souls cannot be journeying from Purgatory on their way to Heaven, as Catholics frequently believe and assert. Instead, the so-called ghosts are thought to be in actuality evil spirits".[91] Other Protestants believed in an intermediate state known as Hades (Bosom of Abraham).[92] In some localities, Catholics and Protestants continued souling, candlelit processions, or ringing church bells for the dead;[46][93] the Anglican church eventually suppressed this bell-ringing.[94] Mark Donnelly, a professor of medieval archaeology, and historian Daniel Diehl write that "barns and homes were blessed to protect people and livestock from the effect of witches, who were believed to accompany the malignant spirits as they traveled the earth".[95] After 1605, Hallowtide was eclipsed in England by Guy Fawkes Night (5 November), which appropriated some of its customs.[96] In England, the ending of official ceremonies related to the intercession of saints led to the development of new, unofficial Hallowtide customs. In 18th–19th century rural Lancashire, Catholic families gathered on hills on the night of All Hallows' Eve. One held a bunch of burning straw on a pitchfork while the rest knelt around him, praying for the souls of relatives and friends until the flames went out. This was known as teen'lay.[97] There was a similar custom in Hertfordshire, and the lighting of 'tindle' fires in Derbyshire.[98] Some suggested these 'tindles' were originally lit to "guide the poor souls back to earth".[99] In Scotland and Ireland, old Allhallowtide customs that were at odds with Reformed teaching were not suppressed as they "were important to the life cycle and rites of passage of local communities" and curbing them would have been difficult.[23] In parts of Italy until the 15th century, families left a meal out for the ghosts of relatives, before leaving for church services.[79] In 19th-century Italy, churches staged "theatrical re-enactments of scenes from the lives of the saints" on All Hallow's Day, with "participants represented by realistic wax figures".[79] In 1823, the graveyard of Holy Spirit Hospital in Rome presented a scene in which bodies of those who recently died were arrayed around a wax statue of an angel who pointed upward towards heaven.[79] In the same country, "parish priests went house-to-house, asking for small gifts of food which they shared among themselves throughout that night".[79] In Spain, they continue to bake special pastries called "bones of the holy" (Spanish: Huesos de Santo) and set them on graves.[100] At cemeteries in Spain and France, as well as in Latin America, priests lead Christian processions and services during Allhallowtide, after which people keep an all night vigil.[101] In 19th-century San Sebastián, there was a procession to the city cemetery at Allhallowtide, an event that drew beggars who "appeal[ed] to the tender recollectons of one's deceased relations and friends" for sympathy.[102] Gaelic folk influence An early 20th-century Irish Halloween mask displayed at the Museum of Country Life in County Mayo, Ireland Today's Halloween customs are thought to have been influenced by folk customs and beliefs from the Celtic-speaking countries, some of which are believed to have pagan roots.[103] Jack Santino, a folklorist, writes that "there was throughout Ireland an uneasy truce existing between customs and beliefs associated with Christianity and those associated with religions that were Irish before Christianity arrived".[104] The origins of Halloween customs are typically linked to the Gaelic festival Samhain.[105] Samhain is one of the quarter days in the medieval Gaelic calendar and has been celebrated on 31 October – 1 November[106] in Ireland, Scotland and the Isle of Man.[107][108] A kindred festival has been held by the Brittonic Celts, called Calan Gaeaf in Wales, Kalan Gwav in Cornwall and Kalan Goañv in Brittany; a name meaning "first day of winter". For the Celts, the day ended and began at sunset; thus the festival begins the evening before 1 November by modern reckoning.[109] Samhain is mentioned in some of the earliest Irish literature. The names have been used by historians to refer to Celtic Halloween customs up until the 19th century,[110] and are still the Gaelic and Welsh names for Halloween. Snap-Apple Night, painted by Daniel Maclise in 1833, shows people feasting and playing divination games on Halloween in Ireland.[111] Samhain marked the end of the harvest season and beginning of winter or the 'darker half' of the year.[112][113] It was seen as a liminal time, when the boundary between this world and the Otherworld thinned. This meant the Aos Sí, the 'spirits' or 'fairies', could more easily come into this world and were particularly active.[114][115] Most scholars see them as "degraded versions of ancient gods [...] whose power remained active in the people's minds even after they had been officially replaced by later religious beliefs".[116] They were both respected and feared, with individuals often invoking the protection of God when approaching their dwellings.[117][118] At Samhain, the Aos Sí were appeased to ensure the people and livestock survived the winter. Offerings of food and drink, or portions of the crops, were left outside for them.[119][120][121] The souls of the dead were also said to revisit their homes seeking hospitality.[122] Places were set at the dinner table and by the fire to welcome them.[123] The belief that the souls of the dead return home on one night of the year and must be appeased seems to have ancient origins and is found in many cultures.[66] In 19th century Ireland, "candles would be lit and prayers formally offered for the souls of the dead. After this the eating, drinking, and games would begin".[124] Throughout Ireland and Britain, especially in the Celtic-speaking regions, the household festivities included divination rituals and games intended to foretell one's future, especially regarding death and marriage.[125] Apples and nuts were often used, and customs included apple bobbing, nut roasting, scrying or mirror-gazing, pouring molten lead or egg whites into water, dream interpretation, and others.[126] Special bonfires were lit and there were rituals involving them. Their flames, smoke, and ashes were deemed to have protective and cleansing powers.[112] In some places, torches lit from the bonfire were carried sunwise around homes and fields to protect them.[110] It is suggested the fires were a kind of imitative or sympathetic magic – they mimicked the Sun and held back the decay and darkness of winter.[123][127][128] They were also used for divination and to ward off evil spirits.[74] In Scotland, these bonfires and divination games were banned by the church elders in some parishes.[129] In Wales, bonfires were also lit to "prevent the souls of the dead from falling to earth".[130] Later, these bonfires "kept away the devil".[131] photograph A plaster cast of a traditional Irish Halloween turnip (rutabaga) lantern on display in the Museum of Country Life, Ireland[132] From at least the 16th century,[133] the festival included mumming and guising in Ireland, Scotland, the Isle of Man and Wales.[134] This involved people going house-to-house in costume (or in disguise), usually reciting verses or songs in exchange for food. It may have originally been a tradition whereby people impersonated the Aos Sí, or the souls of the dead, and received offerings on their behalf, similar to 'souling'. Impersonating these beings, or wearing a disguise, was also believed to protect oneself from them.[135] In parts of southern Ireland, the guisers included a hobby horse. A man dressed as a Láir Bhán (white mare) led youths house-to-house reciting verses – some of which had pagan overtones – in exchange for food. If the household donated food it could expect good fortune from the 'Muck Olla'; not doing so would bring misfortune.[136] In Scotland, youths went house-to-house with masked, painted or blackened faces, often threatening to do mischief if they were not welcomed.[134] F. Marian McNeill suggests the ancient festival included people in costume representing the spirits, and that faces were marked or blackened with ashes from the sacred bonfire.[133] In parts of Wales, men went about dressed as fearsome beings called gwrachod.[134] In the late 19th and early 20th century, young people in Glamorgan and Orkney cross-dressed.[134] Elsewhere in Europe, mumming was part of other festivals, but in the Celtic-speaking regions, it was "particularly appropriate to a night upon which supernatural beings were said to be abroad and could be imitated or warded off by human wanderers".[134] From at least the 18th century, "imitating malignant spirits" led to playing pranks in Ireland and the Scottish Highlands. Wearing costumes and playing pranks at Halloween did not spread to England until the 20th century.[134] Pranksters used hollowed-out turnips or mangel wurzels as lanterns, often carved with grotesque faces.[134] By those who made them, the lanterns were variously said to represent the spirits,[134] or used to ward off evil spirits.[137][138] They were common in parts of Ireland and the Scottish Highlands in the 19th century,[134] as well as in Somerset (see Punkie Night). In the 20th century they spread to other parts of Britain and became generally known as jack-o'-lanterns.[134] Spread to North America "Halloween Days", article from American newspaper, The Sunday Oregonian, 1916 Lesley Bannatyne and Cindy Ott write that Anglican colonists in the southern United States and Catholic colonists in Maryland "recognized All Hallow's Eve in their church calendars",[139][140] although the Puritans of New England strongly opposed the holiday, along with other traditional celebrations of the established Church, including Christmas.[141] Almanacs of the late 18th and early 19th century give no indication that Halloween was widely celebrated in North America.[23] It was not until after mass Irish and Scottish immigration in the 19th century that Halloween became a major holiday in America.[23] Most American Halloween traditions were inherited from the Irish and Scots,[24][142] though "In Cajun areas, a nocturnal Mass was said in cemeteries on Halloween night. Candles that had been blessed were placed on graves, and families sometimes spent the entire night at the graveside".[143] Originally confined to these immigrant communities, it was gradually assimilated into mainstream society and was celebrated coast to coast by people of all social, racial, and religious backgrounds by the early 20th century.[144] Then, through American influence, these Halloween traditions spread to many other countries by the late 20th and early 21st century, including to mainland Europe and some parts of the Far East.[25][13][145] Symbols At Halloween, yards, public spaces, and some houses may be decorated with traditionally macabre symbols including skeletons, ghosts, cobwebs, headstones, and scary-looking witches. Development of artifacts and symbols associated with Halloween formed over time. Jack-o'-lanterns are traditionally carried by guisers on All Hallows' Eve in order to frighten evil spirits.[73][146] There is a popular Irish Christian folktale associated with the jack-o'-lantern,[147] which in folklore is said to represent a "soul who has been denied entry into both heaven and hell":[148]     On route home after a night's drinking, Jack encounters the Devil and tricks him into climbing a tree. A quick-thinking Jack etches the sign of the cross into the bark, thus trapping the Devil. Jack strikes a bargain that Satan can never claim his soul. After a life of sin, drink, and mendacity, Jack is refused entry to heaven when he dies. Keeping his promise, the Devil refuses to let Jack into hell and throws a live coal straight from the fires of hell at him. It was a cold night, so Jack places the coal in a hollowed out turnip to stop it from going out, since which time Jack and his lantern have been roaming looking for a place to rest.[149] In Ireland and Scotland, the turnip has traditionally been carved during Halloween,[150][151] but immigrants to North America used the native pumpkin, which is both much softer and much larger, making it easier to carve than a turnip.[150] The American tradition of carving pumpkins is recorded in 1837[152] and was originally associated with harvest time in general, not becoming specifically associated with Halloween until the mid-to-late 19th century.[153] Decorated house in Weatherly, Pennsylvania The modern imagery of Halloween comes from many sources, including Christian eschatology, national customs, works of Gothic and horror literature (such as the novels Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus and Dracula) and classic horror films such as Frankenstein (1931) and The Mummy (1932).[154][155] Imagery of the skull, a reference to Golgotha in the Christian tradition, serves as "a reminder of death and the transitory quality of human life" and is consequently found in memento mori and vanitas compositions;[156] skulls have therefore been commonplace in Halloween, which touches on this theme.[157] Traditionally, the back walls of churches are "decorated with a depiction of the Last Judgment, complete with graves opening and the dead rising, with a heaven filled with angels and a hell filled with devils", a motif that has permeated the observance of this triduum.[158] One of the earliest works on the subject of Halloween is from Scottish poet John Mayne, who, in 1780, made note of pranks at Halloween; "What fearfu' pranks ensue!", as well as the supernatural associated with the night, "bogles" (ghosts),[159] influencing Robert Burns' "Halloween" (1785).[160] Elements of the autumn season, such as pumpkins, corn husks, and scarecrows, are also prevalent. Homes are often decorated with these types of symbols around Halloween. Halloween imagery includes themes of death, evil, and mythical monsters.[161] Black cats, which have been long associated with witches, are also a common symbol of Halloween. Black, orange, and sometimes purple are Halloween's traditional colors.[162] Trick-or-treating and guising Main article: Trick-or-treating Trick-or-treaters in Sweden Trick-or-treating is a customary celebration for children on Halloween. Children go in costume from house to house, asking for treats such as candy or sometimes money, with the question, "Trick or treat?" The word "trick" implies a "threat" to perform mischief on the homeowners or their property if no treat is given.[64] The practice is said to have roots in the medieval practice of mumming, which is closely related to souling.[163] John Pymm wrote that "many of the feast days associated with the presentation of mumming plays were celebrated by the Christian Church."[164] These feast days included All Hallows' Eve, Christmas, Twelfth Night and Shrove Tuesday.[165][166] Mumming practiced in Germany, Scandinavia and other parts of Europe,[167] involved masked persons in fancy dress who "paraded the streets and entered houses to dance or play dice in silence".[168] Girl in a Halloween costume in 1928, Ontario, Canada, the same province where the Scottish Halloween custom of guising was first recorded in North America In England, from the medieval period,[169] up until the 1930s,[170] people practiced the Christian custom of souling on Halloween, which involved groups of soulers, both Protestant and Catholic,[93] going from parish to parish, begging the rich for soul cakes, in exchange for praying for the souls of the givers and their friends.[67] In the Philippines, the practice of souling is called Pangangaluluwa and is practiced on All Hallow's Eve among children in rural areas.[26] People drape themselves in white cloths to represent souls and then visit houses, where they sing in return for prayers and sweets.[26] In Scotland and Ireland, guising – children disguised in costume going from door to door for food or coins – is a traditional Halloween custom.[171] It is recorded in Scotland at Halloween in 1895 where masqueraders in disguise carrying lanterns made out of scooped out turnips, visit homes to be rewarded with cakes, fruit, and money.[151][172] In Ireland, the most popular phrase for kids to shout (until the 2000s) was "Help the Halloween Party".[171] The practice of guising at Halloween in North America was first recorded in 1911, where a newspaper in Kingston, Ontario, Canada, reported children going "guising" around the neighborhood.[173] American historian and author Ruth Edna Kelley of Massachusetts wrote the first book-length history of Halloween in the US; The Book of Hallowe'en (1919), and references souling in the chapter "Hallowe'en in America".[174] In her book, Kelley touches on customs that arrived from across the Atlantic; "Americans have fostered them, and are making this an occasion something like what it must have been in its best days overseas. All Halloween customs in the United States are borrowed directly or adapted from those of other countries".[175] While the first reference to "guising" in North America occurs in 1911, another reference to ritual begging on Halloween appears, place unknown, in 1915, with a third reference in Chicago in 1920.[176] The earliest known use in print of the term "trick or treat" appears in 1927, in the Blackie Herald, of Alberta, Canada.[177] An automobile trunk at a trunk-or-treat event at St. John Lutheran Church and Early Learning Center in Darien, Illinois The thousands of Halloween postcards produced between the turn of the 20th century and the 1920s commonly show children but not trick-or-treating.[178] Trick-or-treating does not seem to have become a widespread practice in North America until the 1930s, with the first US appearances of the term in 1934,[179] and the first use in a national publication occurring in 1939.[180] A popular variant of trick-or-treating, known as trunk-or-treating (or Halloween tailgating), occurs when "children are offered treats from the trunks of cars parked in a church parking lot", or sometimes, a school parking lot.[100][181] In a trunk-or-treat event, the trunk (boot) of each automobile is decorated with a certain theme,[182] such as those of children's literature, movies, scripture, and job roles.[183] Trunk-or-treating has grown in popularity due to its perception as being more safe than going door to door, a point that resonates well with parents, as well as the fact that it "solves the rural conundrum in which homes [are] built a half-mile apart".[184][185] Costumes Main article: Halloween costume Halloween shop in Derry, Northern Ireland, selling masks Halloween costumes were traditionally modeled after figures such as vampires, ghosts, skeletons, scary looking witches, and devils.[64] Over time, the costume selection extended to include popular characters from fiction, celebrities, and generic archetypes such as ninjas and princesses. Dressing up in costumes and going "guising" was prevalent in Scotland and Ireland at Halloween by the late 19th century.[151] A Scottish term, the tradition is called "guising" because of the disguises or costumes worn by the children.[172] In Ireland and Scotland, the masks are known as 'false faces',[38][186] a term recorded in Ayr, Scotland in 1890 by a Scot describing guisers: "I had mind it was Halloween . . . the wee callans (boys) were at it already, rinning aboot wi’ their fause-faces (false faces) on and their bits o’ turnip lanthrons (lanterns) in their haun (hand)".[38] Costuming became popular for Halloween parties in the US in the early 20th century, as often for adults as for children, and when trick-or-treating was becoming popular in Canada and the US in the 1920s and 1930s.[177][187] Eddie J. Smith, in his book Halloween, Hallowed is Thy Name, offers a religious perspective to the wearing of costumes on All Hallows' Eve, suggesting that by dressing up as creatures "who at one time caused us to fear and tremble", people are able to poke fun at Satan "whose kingdom has been plundered by our Saviour". Images of skeletons and the dead are traditional decorations used as memento mori.[188][189] The annual New York Halloween Parade in Greenwich Village, Manhattan, is the world's largest Halloween parade, with millions of spectators annually, and has its roots in New York's queer community.[190] "Trick-or-Treat for UNICEF" is a fundraising program to support UNICEF,[64] a United Nations Programme that provides humanitarian aid to children in developing countries. Started as a local event in a Northeast Philadelphia neighborhood in 1950 and expanded nationally in 1952, the program involves the distribution of small boxes by schools (or in modern times, corporate sponsors like Hallmark, at their licensed stores) to trick-or-treaters, in which they can solicit small-change donations from the houses they visit. It is estimated that children have collected more than $118 million for UNICEF since its inception. In Canada, in 2006, UNICEF decided to discontinue their Halloween collection boxes, citing safety and administrative concerns; after consultation with schools, they instead redesigned the program.[191][192] The yearly New York's Village Halloween Parade was begun in 1974; it is the world's largest Halloween parade and America's only major nighttime parade, attracting more than 60,000 costumed participants, two million spectators, and a worldwide television audience.[193] Since the late 2010s, ethnic stereotypes as costumes have increasingly come under scrutiny in the United States.[194] Such and other potentially offensive costumes have been met with increasing public disapproval.[195][196] Pet costumes According to a 2018 report from the National Retail Federation, 30 million Americans will spend an estimated $480 million on Halloween costumes for their pets in 2018. This is up from an estimated $200 million in 2010. The most popular costumes for pets are the pumpkin, followed by the hot dog, and the bumblebee in third place.[197] Games and other activities In this 1904 Halloween greeting card, divination is depicted: the young woman looking into a mirror in a darkened room hopes to catch a glimpse of her future husband. There are several games traditionally associated with Halloween. Some of these games originated as divination rituals or ways of foretelling one's future, especially regarding death, marriage and children. During the Middle Ages, these rituals were done by a "rare few" in rural communities as they were considered to be "deadly serious" practices.[198] In recent centuries, these divination games have been "a common feature of the household festivities" in Ireland and Britain.[125] They often involve apples and hazelnuts. In Celtic mythology, apples were strongly associated with the Otherworld and immortality, while hazelnuts were associated with divine wisdom.[199] Some also suggest that they derive from Roman practices in celebration of Pomona.[64] Children bobbing for apples at Hallowe'en The following activities were a common feature of Halloween in Ireland and Britain during the 17th–20th centuries. Some have become more widespread and continue to be popular today. One common game is apple bobbing or dunking (which may be called "dooking" in Scotland)[200] in which apples float in a tub or a large basin of water and the participants must use only their teeth to remove an apple from the basin. A variant of dunking involves kneeling on a chair, holding a fork between the teeth and trying to drive the fork into an apple. Another common game involves hanging up treacle or syrup-coated scones by strings; these must be eaten without using hands while they remain attached to the string, an activity that inevitably leads to a sticky face. Another once-popular game involves hanging a small wooden rod from the ceiling at head height, with a lit candle on one end and an apple hanging from the other. The rod is spun round and everyone takes turns to try to catch the apple with their teeth.[201] Image from the Book of Hallowe'en (1919) showing several Halloween activities, such as nut roasting Several of the traditional activities from Ireland and Britain involve foretelling one's future partner or spouse. An apple would be peeled in one long strip, then the peel tossed over the shoulder. The peel is believed to land in the shape of the first letter of the future spouse's name.[202][203] Two hazelnuts would be roasted near a fire; one named for the person roasting them and the other for the person they desire. If the nuts jump away from the heat, it is a bad sign, but if the nuts roast quietly it foretells a good match.[204][205] A salty oatmeal bannock would be baked; the person would eat it in three bites and then go to bed in silence without anything to drink. This is said to result in a dream in which their future spouse offers them a drink to quench their thirst.[206] Unmarried women were told that if they sat in a darkened room and gazed into a mirror on Halloween night, the face of their future husband would appear in the mirror.[207] The custom was widespread enough to be commemorated on greeting cards[208] from the late 19th century and early 20th century. Another popular Irish game was known as púicíní ("blindfolds"); a person would be blindfolded and then would choose between several saucers. The item in the saucer would provide a hint as to their future: a ring would mean that they would marry soon; clay, that they would die soon, perhaps within the year; water, that they would emigrate; rosary beads, that they would take Holy Orders (become a nun, priest, monk, etc.); a coin, that they would become rich; a bean, that they would be poor.[209][210][211][212] The game features prominently in the James Joyce short story "Clay" (1914).[213][214][215] In Ireland and Scotland, items would be hidden in food – usually a cake, barmbrack, cranachan, champ or colcannon – and portions of it served out at random. A person's future would be foretold by the item they happened to find; for example, a ring meant marriage and a coin meant wealth.[216] Up until the 19th century, the Halloween bonfires were also used for divination in parts of Scotland, Wales and Brittany. When the fire died down, a ring of stones would be laid in the ashes, one for each person. In the morning, if any stone was mislaid it was said that the person it represented would not live out the year.[110] Telling ghost stories, listening to Halloween-themed songs and watching horror films are common fixtures of Halloween parties. Episodes of television series and Halloween-themed specials (with the specials usually aimed at children) are commonly aired on or before Halloween, while new horror films are often released before Halloween to take advantage of the holiday. Haunted attractions Main article: Haunted attraction (simulated) Humorous tombstones in front of a house in California Humorous display window in Historic 25th Street, Ogden, Utah Haunted attractions are entertainment venues designed to thrill and scare patrons. Most attractions are seasonal Halloween businesses that may include haunted houses, corn mazes, and hayrides,[217] and the level of sophistication of the effects has risen as the industry has grown. The first recorded purpose-built haunted attraction was the Orton and Spooner Ghost House, which opened in 1915 in Liphook, England. This attraction actually most closely resembles a carnival fun house, powered by steam.[218][219] The House still exists, in the Hollycombe Steam Collection. It was during the 1930s, about the same time as trick-or-treating, that Halloween-themed haunted houses first began to appear in America. It was in the late 1950s that haunted houses as a major attraction began to appear, focusing first on California. Sponsored by the Children's Health Home Junior Auxiliary, the San Mateo Haunted House opened in 1957. The San Bernardino Assistance League Haunted House opened in 1958. Home haunts began appearing across the country during 1962 and 1963. In 1964, the San Manteo Haunted House opened, as well as the Children's Museum Haunted House in Indianapolis.[220] The haunted house as an American cultural icon can be attributed to the opening of The Haunted Mansion in Disneyland on 12 August 1969.[221] Knott's Berry Farm began hosting its own Halloween night attraction, Knott's Scary Farm, which opened in 1973.[222] Evangelical Christians adopted a form of these attractions by opening one of the first "hell houses" in 1972.[223] The first Halloween haunted house run by a nonprofit organization was produced in 1970 by the Sycamore-Deer Park Jaycees in Clifton, Ohio. It was cosponsored by WSAI, an AM radio station broadcasting out of Cincinnati, Ohio. It was last produced in 1982.[224] Other Jaycees followed suit with their own versions after the success of the Ohio house. The March of Dimes copyrighted a "Mini haunted house for the March of Dimes" in 1976 and began fundraising through their local chapters by conducting haunted houses soon after. Although they apparently quit supporting this type of event nationally sometime in the 1980s, some March of Dimes haunted houses have persisted until today.[225] On the evening of 11 May 1984, in Jackson Township, New Jersey, the Haunted Castle at Six Flags Great Adventure caught fire. As a result of the fire, eight teenagers perished.[226] The backlash to the tragedy was a tightening of regulations relating to safety, building codes and the frequency of inspections of attractions nationwide. The smaller venues, especially the nonprofit attractions, were unable to compete financially, and the better funded commercial enterprises filled the vacuum.[227][228] Facilities that were once able to avoid regulation because they were considered to be temporary installations now had to adhere to the stricter codes required of permanent attractions.[229][230][231] In the late 1980s and early 1990s, theme parks entered the business seriously. Six Flags Fright Fest began in 1986 and Universal Studios Florida began Halloween Horror Nights in 1991. Knott's Scary Farm experienced a surge in attendance in the 1990s as a result of America's obsession with Halloween as a cultural event. Theme parks have played a major role in globalizing the holiday. Universal Studios Singapore and Universal Studios Japan both participate, while Disney now mounts Mickey's Not-So-Scary Halloween Party events at its parks in Paris, Hong Kong and Tokyo, as well as in the United States.[232] The theme park haunts are by far the largest, both in scale and attendance.[233] Food Pumpkins for sale during Halloween On All Hallows' Eve, many Western Christian denominations encourage abstinence from meat, giving rise to a variety of vegetarian foods associated with this day.[234] A candy apple Because in the Northern Hemisphere Halloween comes in the wake of the yearly apple harvest, candy apples (known as toffee apples outside North America), caramel apples or taffy apples are common Halloween treats made by rolling whole apples in a sticky sugar syrup, sometimes followed by rolling them in nuts. At one time, candy apples were commonly given to trick-or-treating children, but the practice rapidly waned in the wake of widespread rumors that some individuals were embedding items like pins and razor blades in the apples in the United States.[235] While there is evidence of such incidents,[236] relative to the degree of reporting of such cases, actual cases involving malicious acts are extremely rare and have never resulted in serious injury. Nonetheless, many parents assumed that such heinous practices were rampant because of the mass media. At the peak of the hysteria, some hospitals offered free X-rays of children's Halloween hauls in order to find evidence of tampering. Virtually all of the few known candy poisoning incidents involved parents who poisoned their own children's candy.[237] One custom that persists in modern-day Ireland is the baking (or more often nowadays, the purchase) of a barmbrack (Irish: báirín breac), which is a light fruitcake, into which a plain ring, a coin, and other charms are placed before baking.[238] It is considered fortunate to be the lucky one who finds it.[238] It has also been said that those who get a ring will find their true love in the ensuing year. This is similar to the tradition of king cake at the festival of Epiphany. Halloween-themed foods are also produced by companies in the lead up to the night, for example Cadbury releasing Goo Heads (similar to Creme Eggs) in spooky wrapping.[239] A jack-o'-lantern Halloween cake with a witches hat List of foods associated with Halloween:     Barmbrack (Ireland)     Bonfire toffee (Great Britain)     Candy apples/toffee apples (Great Britain and Ireland)     Candy apples, candy corn, candy pumpkins (North America)     Chocolate     Monkey nuts (peanuts in their shells) (Ireland and Scotland)     Caramel apples     Caramel corn     Colcannon (Ireland; see below)     Halloween cake     Sweets/candy     Novelty candy shaped like skulls, pumpkins, bats, worms, etc.     Roasted pumpkin seeds     Roasted sweet corn     Soul cakes     Pumpkin Pie Christian observances The Vigil of All Hallows is being celebrated at an Episcopal Christian church on Hallowe'en On Hallowe'en (All Hallows' Eve), in Poland, believers were once taught to pray out loud as they walk through the forests in order that the souls of the dead might find comfort; in Spain, Christian priests in tiny villages toll their church bells in order to remind their congregants to remember the dead on All Hallows' Eve.[240] In Ireland, and among immigrants in Canada, a custom includes the Christian practice of abstinence, keeping All Hallows' Eve as a meat-free day and serving pancakes or colcannon instead.[241] In Mexico children make an altar to invite the return of the spirits of dead children (angelitos).[242] The Christian Church traditionally observed Hallowe'en through a vigil. Worshippers prepared themselves for feasting on the following All Saints' Day with prayers and fasting.[243] This church service is known as the Vigil of All Hallows or the Vigil of All Saints;[244][245] an initiative known as Night of Light seeks to further spread the Vigil of All Hallows throughout Christendom.[246][247] After the service, "suitable festivities and entertainments" often follow, as well as a visit to the graveyard or cemetery, where flowers and candles are often placed in preparation for All Hallows' Day.[248][249] In Finland, because so many people visit the cemeteries on All Hallows' Eve to light votive candles there, they "are known as valomeri, or seas of light".[250] Halloween Scripture Candy with gospel tract Today, Christian attitudes towards Halloween are diverse. In the Anglican Church, some dioceses have chosen to emphasize the Christian traditions associated with All Hallow's Eve.[251][252] Some of these practices include praying, fasting and attending worship services.[1][2][3]     O LORD our God, increase, we pray thee, and multiply upon us the gifts of thy grace: that we, who do prevent the glorious festival of all thy Saints, may of thee be enabled joyfully to follow them in all virtuous and godly living. Through Jesus Christ, Our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee, in the unity of the Holy Ghost, ever one God, world without end. Amen. —Collect of the Vigil of All Saints, The Anglican Breviary[253] Votive candles in the Halloween section of Walmart Other Protestant Christians also celebrate All Hallows' Eve as Reformation Day, a day to remember the Protestant Reformation, alongside All Hallow's Eve or independently from it.[254] This is because Martin Luther is said to have nailed his Ninety-five Theses to All Saints' Church in Wittenberg on All Hallows' Eve.[255] Often, "Harvest Festivals" or "Reformation Festivals" are held on All Hallows' Eve, in which children dress up as Bible characters or Reformers.[256] In addition to distributing candy to children who are trick-or-treating on Hallowe'en, many Christians also provide gospel tracts to them. One organization, the American Tract Society, stated that around 3 million gospel tracts are ordered from them alone for Hallowe'en celebrations.[257] Others order Halloween-themed Scripture Candy to pass out to children on this day.[258][259] Belizean children dressed up as Biblical figures and Christian saints Some Christians feel concerned about the modern celebration of Halloween because they feel it trivializes – or celebrates – paganism, the occult, or other practices and cultural phenomena deemed incompatible with their beliefs.[260] Father Gabriele Amorth, an exorcist in Rome, has said, "if English and American children like to dress up as witches and devils on one night of the year that is not a problem. If it is just a game, there is no harm in that."[261] In more recent years, the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston has organized a "Saint Fest" on Halloween.[262] Similarly, many contemporary Protestant churches view Halloween as a fun event for children, holding events in their churches where children and their parents can dress up, play games, and get candy for free. To these Christians, Halloween holds no threat to the spiritual lives of children: being taught about death and mortality, and the ways of the Celtic ancestors actually being a valuable life lesson and a part of many of their parishioners' heritage.[263] Christian minister Sam Portaro wrote that Halloween is about using "humor and ridicule to confront the power of death".[264] In the Roman Catholic Church, Halloween's Christian connection is acknowledged, and Halloween celebrations are common in many Catholic parochial schools, such as in the United States,[265][266] while schools throughout Ireland also close for the Halloween break.[267][268] Many fundamentalist and evangelical churches use "Hell houses" and comic-style tracts in order to make use of Halloween's popularity as an opportunity for evangelism.[269] Others consider Halloween to be completely incompatible with the Christian faith due to its putative origins in the Festival of the Dead celebration.[270] Indeed, even though Eastern Orthodox Christians observe All Hallows' Day on the First Sunday after Pentecost, the Eastern Orthodox Church recommends the observance of Vespers or a Paraklesis on the Western observance of All Hallows' Eve, out of the pastoral need to provide an alternative to popular celebrations.[271] Analogous celebrations and perspectives Judaism Main article: Jews and Halloween According to Alfred J. Kolatch in the Second Jewish Book of Why, in Judaism, Halloween is not permitted by Jewish Halakha because it violates Leviticus 18:3, which forbids Jews from partaking in gentile customs. Many Jews observe Yizkor communally four times a year, which is vaguely similar to the observance of Allhallowtide in Christianity, in the sense that prayers are said for both "martyrs and for one's own family".[272] Nevertheless, many American Jews celebrate Halloween, disconnected from its Christian origins.[273] Reform Rabbi Jeffrey Goldwasser has said that "There is no religious reason why contemporary Jews should not celebrate Halloween" while Orthodox Rabbi Michael Broyde has argued against Jews' observing the holiday.[274] Purim has sometimes been compared to Halloween, in part due to some observants wearing costumes, especially of Biblical figures described in the Purim narrative.[275] Islam Sheikh Idris Palmer, author of A Brief Illustrated Guide to Understanding Islam, has ruled that Muslims should not participate in Halloween, stating that "participation in Halloween is worse than participation in Christmas, Easter, ... it is more sinful than congratulating the Christians for their prostration to the crucifix".[276] It has also been ruled to be haram by the National Fatwa Council of Malaysia because of its alleged pagan roots stating "Halloween is celebrated using a humorous theme mixed with horror to entertain and resist the spirit of death that influence humans".[277][278] Dar Al-Ifta Al-Missriyyah disagrees provided the celebration is not referred to as an 'eid' and that behaviour remains in line with Islamic principles.[279] Hinduism Hindus remember the dead during the festival of Pitru Paksha, during which Hindus pay homage to and perform a ceremony "to keep the souls of their ancestors at rest". It is celebrated in the Hindu month of Bhadrapada, usually in mid-September.[280] The celebration of the Hindu festival Diwali sometimes conflicts with the date of Halloween; but some Hindus choose to participate in the popular customs of Halloween.[281] Other Hindus, such as Soumya Dasgupta, have opposed the celebration on the grounds that Western holidays like Halloween have "begun to adversely affect our indigenous festivals".[282] Neopaganism There is no consistent rule or view on Halloween amongst those who describe themselves as Neopagans or Wiccans. Some Neopagans do not observe Halloween, but instead observe Samhain on 1 November,[283] some neopagans do enjoy Halloween festivities, stating that one can observe both "the solemnity of Samhain in addition to the fun of Halloween". Some neopagans are opposed to the celebration of Hallowe'en, stating that it "trivializes Samhain",[284] and "avoid Halloween, because of the interruptions from trick or treaters".[285] The Manitoban writes that "Wiccans don't officially celebrate Halloween, despite the fact that 31 Oct. will still have a star beside it in any good Wiccan's day planner. Starting at sundown, Wiccans celebrate a holiday known as Samhain. Samhain actually comes from old Celtic traditions and is not exclusive to Neopagan religions like Wicca. While the traditions of this holiday originate in Celtic countries, modern day Wiccans don't try to historically replicate Samhain celebrations. Some traditional Samhain rituals are still practised, but at its core, the period is treated as a time to celebrate darkness and the dead – a possible reason why Samhain can be confused with Halloween celebrations."[283] Geography Main article: Geography of Halloween Halloween display in Kobe, Japan The traditions and importance of Halloween vary greatly among countries that observe it. In Scotland and Ireland, traditional Halloween customs include children dressing up in costume going "guising", holding parties, while other practices in Ireland include lighting bonfires, and having firework displays.[171][286][287] In Brittany children would play practical jokes by setting candles inside skulls in graveyards to frighten visitors.[288] Mass transatlantic immigration in the 19th century popularized Halloween in North America, and celebration in the United States and Canada has had a significant impact on how the event is observed in other nations.[171] This larger North American influence, particularly in iconic and commercial elements, has extended to places such as Brazil, Ecuador, Chile,[289] Australia,[290] New Zealand,[291] (most) continental Europe, Finland,[292] Japan, and other parts of East Asia.[13] Cost According to the National Retail Federation, Americans are expected to spend $12.2 billion on Halloween in 2023, up from $10.6 billion in 2022. Of this amount, $3.9 billion is projected to be spent on home decorations, up from $2.7 billion in 2019. The popularity of Halloween decorations has been growing in recent years, with retailers offering a wider range of increasingly elaborate and oversized decorations." (wikipedia.org) "Halloween is a celebration observed on October 31, the day before the feast of All Hallows, also known as Hallowmas or All Saint's Day. The celebrations and observances of this day occur primarily in regions of the Western world, albeit with some traditions varying significantly between geographical areas. Origins Halloween is the eve of vigil before the Western Christian feast of All Hallows (or All Saints) which is observed on November 1. This day begins the triduum of Hallowtide, which culminates with All Souls' Day. In the Middle Ages, many Christians held a folk belief that All Hallows' Eve was the "night where the veil between the material world and the afterlife was at its most transparent".[2] Americas Canada Scottish emigration, primarily to Canada before 1870 and to the United States thereafter, brought the Scottish version of the holiday to each country. The earliest known reference to ritual begging on Halloween in English speaking North America occurs in 1911 when a newspaper in Kingston, Ontario reported that it was normal for the smaller children to go street "guising" on Halloween between 6 and 7 p.m., visiting shops, and neighbours to be rewarded with nuts and candies for their rhymes and songs.[3] Canadians spend more on candy at Halloween than at any time apart from Christmas. Halloween is also a time for charitable contributions. Until 2006 when UNICEF moved to an online donation system, collecting small change was very much a part of Canadian trick-or-treating.[4] Quebec offers themed tours of parts of the old city and historic cemeteries in the area.[5] In 2014 the hamlet of Arviat, Nunavut moved their Halloween festivities to the community hall, cancelling the practice of door-to-door "trick or treating", due to the risk of roaming polar bears.[6][7] In British Columbia it is a tradition to set off fireworks at Halloween.[8] United States Children in Halloween costumes at High Point, Seattle, 1943 In the United States, Halloween did not become a holiday until the 19th century. The transatlantic migration of nearly two million Irish following the Great Irish Famine (1845–1849) brought the holiday to the United States. American librarian and author Ruth Edna Kelley wrote the first book length history of the holiday in the U.S., The Book of Hallowe'en (1919), and references souling in the chapter "Hallowe'en in America": "All Hallowe'en customs in the United States are borrowed directly or adapted from those of other countries. The taste in Hallowe'en festivities now is to study old traditions, and hold a Scotch party, using Robert Burns's poem Halloween as a guide; or to go a-souling as the English used. In short, no custom that was once honored at Hallowe'en is out of fashion now."[9] The main event for children of modern Halloween in the United States and Canada is trick-or-treating, in which children, teenagers, (sometimes) young adults, and parents (accompanying their children) disguise themselves in costumes and go door-to-door in their neighborhoods, ringing each doorbell and yelling "Trick or treat!" to solicit a gift of candy or similar items.[10] Teenagers and adults will more frequently attend Halloween-themed costume parties typically hosted by friends or themed events at nightclubs either on Halloween itself or a weekend close to the holiday. At the turn of the 20th century, Halloween had turned into a night of vandalism, with destruction of property and cruelty to animals and people.[11] Around 1912, the Boy Scouts, Boys Clubs, and other neighborhood organizations came together to encourage a safe celebration that would end the destruction that had become so common on this night. The commercialization of Halloween in the United States did not start until the 20th century, beginning perhaps with Halloween postcards (featuring hundreds of designs), which were most popular between 1905 and 1915.[12] Dennison Manufacturing Company (which published its first Halloween catalog in 1909) and the Beistle Company were pioneers in commercially made Halloween decorations, particularly die-cut paper items.[13][14] German manufacturers specialised in Halloween figurines that were exported to the United States in the period between the two World Wars. Halloween is now the United States' second most popular holiday (after Christmas) for decorating; the sale of candy and costumes is also extremely common during the holiday, which is marketed to children and adults alike. The National Confectioners Association (NCA) reported in 2005 that 80% of American adults planned to give out candy to trick-or-treaters.[15] The NCA reported in 2005 that 93% of children planned to go trick-or-treating.[16] According to the National Retail Federation, the most popular Halloween costume themes for adults are, in order: witch, pirate, vampire, cat, and clown.[17][when?] Each year, popular costumes are dictated by various current events and pop culture icons. On many college campuses, Halloween is a major celebration, with the Friday and Saturday nearest 31 October hosting many costume parties. Other popular activities are watching horror movies and visiting haunted houses. Total spending on Halloween is estimated to be $8.4 billion.[18] Events Four contestants in the Halloween Slick Chick beauty contest in Anaheim, California, 1947 Many theme parks stage Halloween events annually, such as Halloween Horror Nights at Universal Studios Hollywood and Universal Orlando, Mickey's Halloween Party and Mickey's Not-So-Scary Halloween Party at Disneyland Resort and Magic Kingdom respectively, and Knott's Scary Farm at Knott's Berry Farm. One of the more notable parades is New York's Village Halloween Parade. Each year approximately 50,000 costumed marchers parade up Sixth Avenue.[19] Salem, Massachusetts, site of the Salem witch trials, celebrates Halloween throughout the month of October with tours, plays, concerts, and other activities.[20] A number of venues in New York's lower Hudson Valley host various events to showcase a connection with Washington Irving's Legend of Sleepy Hollow. Van Cortlandt Manor stages the "Great Jack o' Lantern Blaze" featuring thousands of lighted carved pumpkins.[21] Some locales have had to modify their celebrations due to disruptive behavior on the part of young adults. Madison, Wisconsin hosts an annual Halloween celebration. In 2002, due to the large crowds in the State Street area, a riot broke out, necessitating the use of mounted police and tear gas to disperse the crowds.[22] Likewise, Chapel Hill, site of the University of North Carolina, has a downtown street party which in 2007 drew a crowd estimated at 80,000 on downtown Franklin Street, in a town with a population of just 54,000. In 2008, in an effort to curb the influx of out-of-towners, mayor Kevin Foy put measures in place to make commuting downtown more difficult on Halloween.[23] In 2014, large crowds of college students rioted at the Keene, New Hampshire Pumpkin Fest, whereupon the City Council voted not to grant a permit for the following year's festival,[24] and organizers moved the event to Laconia for 2015.[25] Brazil Main article: Saci Day The Brazilian non-governmental organization named Amigos do Saci created Saci Day as a Brazilian parallel in opposition to the "American-influenced" holiday of Halloween that saw minor celebration in Brazil. The Saci is a mischievous evil character in Brazilian folklore. Saci Day is commemorated on October 31, the same day as Halloween, and is an official holiday in the state of São Paulo. Despite official recognition in São Paulo and several other municipalities throughout the country, few Brazilians celebrate it.[26][27] Dominican Republic In the Dominican Republic it has been gaining popularity, largely due to many Dominicans living in the United States and then bringing the custom to the island. In the larger cities of Santiago or Santo Domingo it has become more common to see children trick-or-treating, but in smaller towns and villages it is almost entirely absent, partly due to religious opposition. Tourist areas such as Sosua and Punta Cana feature many venues with Halloween celebrations, predominantly geared towards adults.[28] Mexico (Día de Muertos) Mexican tomb on the Day of the Dead, adorned with the cempasúchil, the holiday's traditional flower, and a Halloween ghost balloon, at the historic cemetery of San Luis Potosí City Observed in Mexico and Mexican communities abroad, Day of the Dead (Spanish: Día de Muertos) celebrations arose from the syncretism of indigenous Aztec traditions with the Christian Hallowtide of the Spanish colonizers. Flower decorations, altars and candies are part of this holiday season. The holiday is distinct from Halloween in its origins and observances, but the two have become associated because of cross-border connections between Mexico and the United States through popular culture and migration, as the two celebrations occur at the same time of year and may involve similar imagery, such as skeletons. Halloween and Día de Muertos have influenced each other in some areas of the United States and Mexico, with Halloween traditions such as costumes and face-painting becoming increasingly common features of the Mexican festival.[29][30] Asia China The Chinese celebrate the "Hungry Ghost Festival" in mid-July, when it is customary to float river lanterns to remember those who have died. By contrast, Halloween is often called "All Saints' Festival" (Wànshèngjié, 萬聖節), or (less commonly) "All Saints' Eve" (Wànshèngyè, 萬聖夜) or "Eve of All Saints' Day" (Wànshèngjié Qiányè, 萬聖節前夕), stemming from the term "All Hallows Eve" (hallow referring to the souls of holy saints). Chinese Christian churches hold religious celebrations. Non-religious celebrations are dominated by expatriate Americans or Canadians, but costume parties are also popular for Chinese young adults, especially in large cities. Hong Kong Disneyland and Ocean Park (Halloween Bash) host annual Halloween shows. Mainland China has been less influenced by Anglo traditions than Hong Kong and Halloween is generally considered "foreign". As Halloween has become more popular globally it has also become more popular in China, however, particularly amongst children attending private or international schools with many foreign teachers from North America.[31] Hong Kong Traditional "door-to-door" trick or treating is not commonly practiced in Hong Kong due to the vast majority of Hong Kong residents living in high-rise apartment blocks. However, in many buildings catering to expatriates, Halloween parties and limited trick or treating is arranged by the management. Instances of street-level trick or treating in Hong Kong occur in ultra-exclusive gated housing communities such as The Beverly Hills populated by Hong Kong's super-rich and in expatriate areas like Discovery Bay and the Red Hill Peninsula. For the general public, there are events at Tsim Sha Tsui's Avenue of the Stars that try to mimic the celebration.[32] In the Lan Kwai Fong area of Hong Kong, known as a major entertainment district for the international community, a Halloween celebration and parade has taken place for over 20 years, with many people dressing in costume and making their way around the streets to various drinking establishments.[33] Many international schools also celebrate Halloween with costumes, and some put an academic twist on the celebrations such as the "Book-o-ween" celebrations at Hong Kong International School where students dress as favorite literary characters. Japan A Halloween display in a local bank window, in Saitama, Japan Halloween arrived in Japan mainly as a result of American pop culture. In 2009 it was celebrated only by expats.[34] The wearing of elaborate costumes by young adults at night has since become popular in areas such as Amerikamura in Osaka and Shibuya in Tokyo, where, in October 2012, about 1700 people dressed in costumes to take part in the Halloween Festival.[35] Celebrations have become popular with young adults as a costume party and club event.[36] Trick-or-treating for Japanese children has taken hold in some areas. By the mid-2010s, Yakuza were giving snacks and sweets to children.[37] Philippines The period from 31 October through 2 November is a time for remembering dead family members and friends. Many Filipinos travel back to their hometowns for family gatherings of festive remembrance.[38] Trick-or-treating is gradually replacing the dying tradition of Pangangaluluwâ, a local analogue of the old English custom of souling. People in the provinces still observe Pangangaluluwâ by going in groups to every house and offering a song in exchange for money or food. The participants, usually children, would sing carols about the souls in Purgatory, with the abúloy (alms for the dead) used to pay for Masses for these souls. Along with the requested alms, householders sometimes gave the children suman (rice cakes). During the night, various small items, such as clothing, plants, etc., would "mysteriously" disappear, only to be discovered the next morning in the yard or in the middle of the street. In older times, it was believed that the spirits of ancestors and loved ones visited the living on this night, manifesting their presence by taking an item.[39] As the observation of Christmas traditions in the Philippines begins as early as September, it is a common sight to see Halloween decorations next to Christmas decorations in urban settings.[citation needed] Saudi Arabia Starting 2022, Saudi Arabia began to celebrate Halloween in the public in Riyadh under its Saudi Vision 2030.[40] Singapore Around mid-July Singapore Chinese celebrate "Zhong Yuan Jie / Yu Lan Jie" (Hungry Ghosts Festival), a time when it is believed that the spirits of the dead come back to visit their families.[41] In recent years, Halloween celebrations are becoming more popular, with influence from the west.[42] In 2012, there were over 19 major Halloween celebration events around Singapore.[43] SCAPE's Museum of Horrors held its fourth scare fest in 2014.[44] Universal Studios Singapore hosts "Halloween Horror Nights".[45] South Korea The popularity of the holiday among young people in South Korea comes from English academies and corporate marketing strategies, and was influenced by Halloween celebrations in Japan and America.[46] Despite not being a public holiday, it is celebrated in different areas around Seoul, especially Itaewon and Hongdae.[47] Taiwan Children dressed up in Halloween costume in Songshan District, Taipei, Taiwan Traditionally, Taiwanese people celebrate "Zhong Yuan Pudu Festival", where spirits that do not have any surviving family members to pay respects to them, are able to roam the Earth during the seventh lunar month. It is known as Ghost Month.[48] While some have compared it to Halloween, it has no relations and the overall meaning is different. In recent years, mainly as a result of American pop culture, Halloween is becoming more widespread amongst young Taiwanese people. Halloween events are held in many areas across Taipei, such as Xinyi Special District and Shilin District where there are many international schools and expats.[49] Halloween parties are celebrated differently based on different age groups. One of the most popular Halloween event is the Tianmu Halloween Festival, which started in 2009 and is organised by the Taipei City Office of Commerce.[50] The 2-day annual festivity has attracted more than 240,000 visitors in 2019. During this festival, stores and businesses in Tianmu place pumpkin lanterns outside their stores to identify themselves as trick-or-treat destinations for children.[51] Oceania Australia Halloween display in Sydney, Australia Non-religious celebrations of Halloween modelled on North American festivities are growing increasingly popular in Australia despite not being traditionally part of the culture.[52] Some Australians criticise this intrusion into their culture.[53][54] Many dislike the commercialisation and American pop-culture influence.[54][55] Some supporters of the event place it alongside other cultural traditions such as Saint Patrick's Day.[56] Halloween historian and author of Halloween: Pagan Festival to Trick or Treat, Mark Oxbrow says while Halloween may have been popularised by depictions of it in US movies and TV shows, it is not a new entry into Australian culture.[57] His research shows Halloween was first celebrated in Australia in Castlemaine, Victoria, in 1858, which was 43 years before Federation. His research shows Halloween traditions were brought to the country by Scottish miners who settled in Victoria during the Gold Rush. Because of the polarised opinions about Halloween, growing numbers of people are decorating their letter boxes to indicate that children are welcome to come knocking. In the past decade, the popularity of Halloween in Australia has grown.[58] In 2020, the first magazine dedicated solely to celebrating Halloween in Australia was launched, called Hallozween,[59] and in 2021, sales of costumes, decorations and carving pumpkins soared to an all-time high[60] despite the effect of the global COVID-19 pandemic limiting celebrations. New Zealand In New Zealand, Halloween is not celebrated to the same extent as in North America, although in recent years non-religious celebrations have become more common.[61][62] Trick-or-treat has become increasingly popular with minors in New Zealand, despite being not a "British or Kiwi event" and the influence of American globalisation.[63] One criticism of Halloween in New Zealand is that it is overly commercialised - by The Warehouse, for example.[63] Europe A jack-o'-lantern in Finland Over the years, Halloween has become more popular in Europe and has been partially ousting some older customs like the Rübengeistern [de] (English: turnip ghosts, beet spirit), Martinisingen, and others.[64] France Halloween was introduced to most of France in the 1990s.[65] In Brittany, Halloween had been celebrated for centuries and is known as Kalan Goañv (Night of Spirits). During this time, it is believed that the spirits of the dead return to the world of the living lead by the Ankou, the collector of souls.[66] Also during this time, Bretons bake Kornigou, a pastry shaped like the antlers of a stag.[citation needed] Germany "Don't drink and fly" Halloween decoration in Germany Halloween was not generally observed in Germany prior to the 1990s, but has been increasing in popularity. It has been associated with the influence of United States culture, and "Trick or Treating" (German: Süßes sonst gibt's Saures) has been occurring in various German cities, especially in areas such as the Dahlem neighborhood in Berlin, which was part of the American zone during the Cold War. Today, Halloween in Germany brings in 200 million euros a year, through multiple industries.[67] Halloween is celebrated by both children and adults. Adults celebrate at themed costume parties and clubs, while children go trick or treating. Complaints of vandalism associated with Halloween "Tricks" are increasing, particularly from many elderly Germans unfamiliar with "Trick or Treating".[68] Greece In Greece, Halloween is not celebrated widely and it is a working day, with little public interest, since the early 2000s. Recently, it has somewhat increased in popularity as both a secular celebration; although Carnival is vastly more popular among Greeks. For very few, Halloween is[when?] considered the fourth most popular festival in the country after Christmas, Easter, and Carnival. Retail businesses, bars, nightclubs, and certain theme parks might organize Halloween parties. This boost in popularity has been attributed to the influence of western consumerism. Since it is a working day, Halloween is not celebrated on 31 October unless the date falls on a weekend, in which case it is celebrated by some during the last weekend before All Hallow's Eve, usually in the form of themed house parties and retail business decorations. Trick-or-treating is not widely popular because similar activities are already undertaken during Carnival. The slight rise in popularity of Halloween in Greece has led to some increase in its popularity throughout nearby countries in the Balkans and Cyprus. In the latter, there has been an increase in Greek-Cypriot retailers selling Halloween merchandise every year.[69] Ireland A plaster cast of a traditional Irish Halloween turnip (rutabaga) lantern on display in the Museum of Country Life, Ireland[70] On Halloween night, adults and children dress up as various monsters and creatures, light bonfires, and enjoy fireworks displays; Derry in Northern Ireland is home to the largest organized Halloween celebration on the island, in the form of a street carnival and fireworks display.[71] Snap-Apple Night, painted by Daniel Maclise in 1833, depicts apple bobbing and divination games at a Halloween party in Ireland Games are often played, such as bobbing for apples, in which apples, peanuts, other nuts and fruits, and some small coins are placed in a basin of water.[72] Everyone takes turns catching as many items possible using only their mouths. Another common game involves the hands-free eating of an apple hung on a string attached to the ceiling. Games of divination are also played at Halloween.[73] Colcannon is traditionally served on Halloween.[72] 31 October is the busiest day of the year for the Emergency Services.[74] Bangers and fireworks are illegal in the Republic of Ireland; however, they are commonly smuggled in from Northern Ireland where they are legal.[75] Bonfires are frequently built around Halloween.[76] Trick-or-treating is popular amongst children on 31 October and Halloween parties and events are commonplace. October Holiday occurs on the last Monday of October and may fall on Halloween. Its Irish names are Lá Saoire i Mí Dheireadh Fómhair or Lá Saoire Oíche Shamhna, the latter translating literally as 'Halloween holiday'. Italy A carved pumpkin in Sardinia In Italy, All Saints' Day is a public holiday. On 2 November, Tutti i Morti or All Souls' Day, families remember loved ones who have died. These are still the main holidays.[77] In some Italian tradition, children would awake on the morning of All Saints or All Souls to find small gifts from their deceased ancestors. In Sardinia, Concas de Mortu (Head of the deads), carved pumpkins that look like skulls, with candles inside are displayed.[78][79][80] Halloween is, however, gaining in popularity, and involves costume parties for young adults.[81] The traditions to carve pumpkins in a skull figure, lighting candles inside, or to beg for small gifts for the deads e.g. sweets or nuts, also belong to North Italy.[82] In Veneto these carved pumpkins were called lumère (lanterns) or suche dei morti (deads' pumpkins).[83] Poland Since the fall of Communism in 1989, Halloween has become increasingly popular in Poland. Particularly, it is celebrated among younger people. The influx of Western tourists and expats throughout the 1990s introduced the costume party aspect of Hallowe'en celebrations, particularly in clubs and at private house parties. Door-to-door trick or treating is not common. Pumpkin carving is becoming more evident, following a strong North American version of the tradition. Romania Romanians observe the Feast of St. Andrew, patron saint of Romania, on 30 November. On St. Andrew's Eve ghosts are said to be about. A number of customs related to divination, in other places connected to Halloween, are associated with this night.[84] However, with the popularity of Dracula in western Europe, around Halloween the Romanian tourist industry promotes trips to locations connected to the historical Vlad Tepeș and the more fanciful Dracula of Bram Stoker. One of the most successful Halloween Parties in Transylvania takes place in Sighișoara, the citadel where Vlad the Impaler was born. This party include magician shows, ballet show and The Ritual Killing of a Living Dead[85] The biggest Halloween party in Transylvania take place at Bran Castle, aka Dracula's Castle from Transylvania.[86] Both the Catholic and Orthodox Churches in Romania discourage Halloween celebrations, advising their parishioners to focus rather on the "Day of the Dead" on 1 November, when special religious observances are held for the souls of the deceased.[87] Opposition by religious and nationalist groups, including calls to ban costumes and decorations in schools in 2015, have been met with criticism.[88][89][90] Halloween parties are popular in bars and nightclubs.[91] Russia In Russia, most Christians are Orthodox, and in the Orthodox Church, Halloween is on the Saturday after Pentecost, and therefore 4 to 5 months before western Halloween. Celebration of western Halloween began in the 1990s around the downfall of the Soviet regime, when costume and ghoulish parties spread in night clubs throughout Russia. Halloween is generally celebrated by younger generations and is not widely celebrated in civic society (e.g. theaters or libraries). In fact, Halloween is among the Western celebrations that the Russian government and politicians—which have grown increasingly anti-Western in the early 2010s—are trying to eliminate from public celebration.[92][93][94] Spain In Spain, celebrations involve eating castanyes (roasted chestnuts), panellets (special almond balls covered in pine nuts), moniatos (roast or baked sweet potato), Ossos de Sant cake and preserved fruit (candied or glazed fruit). Moscatell (Muscat) is drunk from porrons.[95] Around the time of this celebration, it is common for street vendors to sell hot toasted chestnuts wrapped in newspaper. In many places, confectioners often organise raffles of chestnuts and preserved fruit. The tradition of eating these foods comes from the fact that during All Saints' night, on the eve of All Souls' Day in the Christian tradition, bell ringers would ring bells in commemoration of the dead into the early morning. Friends and relatives would help with this task, and everyone would eat these foods for sustenance.[96] Other versions of the story state that the Castanyada originates at the end of the 18th century and comes from the old funeral meals, where other foods, such as vegetables and dried fruit were not served. The meal had the symbolic significance of a communion with the souls of the departed: while the chestnuts were roasting, prayers would be said for the person who had just died.[97] The festival is usually depicted with the figure of a castanyera: an old lady, dressed in peasant's clothing and wearing a headscarf, sitting behind a table, roasting chestnuts for street sale. In recent years, the Castanyada has become a revetlla of All Saints and is celebrated in the home and community. It is the first of the four main school festivals, alongside Christmas, Carnestoltes and St George's Day, without reference to ritual or commemoration of the dead.[98] Galicia is known to have the second largest Halloween or Samain festivals in Europe and during this time, a drink called Queimada is often served.[citation needed] Sweden On All Hallow's Eve, a Requiem Mass is widely attended every year at Uppsala Cathedral, part of the Lutheran Church of Sweden.[99] Throughout the period of Allhallowtide, starting with All Hallow's Eve, Swedish families visit churchyards and adorn the graves of their family members with lit candles and wreaths fashioned from pine branches.[99] Among children, the practice of dressing in costume and collecting candy gained popularity beginning around 2005.[100] The American traditions of Halloween have however been met with skepticism among the older generations, in part due to conflicting with the Swedish traditions on All Hallow's Eve and in part due to their commercialism.[101] In Sweden, All Saint's Day/ All Hallow's Eve is observed on the Saturday occurring between October 31 and November 6, whereas Halloween is observed on October 31, every year. Switzerland In Switzerland, Halloween, after first becoming popular in 1999, is on the wane, and is most popular with young adults who attend parties. Switzerland already has a "festival overload" and even though Swiss people like to dress up for any occasion, they do prefer a traditional element, such as in the Fasnacht tradition of chasing away winter using noise and masks.[102][103] United Kingdom and Crown dependencies England See also: Mischief Night and Allantide In the past, on All Souls' Eve families would stay up late, and little "soul cakes" were eaten. At the stroke of midnight, there was solemn silence among households, which had candles burning in every room to guide the souls back to visit their earthly homes and a glass of wine on the table to refresh them. The tradition of giving soul cakes that originated in Great Britain and Ireland was known as souling, often seen as the origin of modern trick or treating in North America, and souling continued in parts of England as late as the 1930s, with children going from door to door singing songs and saying prayers for the dead in return for cakes or money.[104] Trick or treating and other Halloween celebrations are extremely popular, with shops decorated with witches and pumpkins, and young people attending costume parties.[105] Scotland The name Halloween is first attested in the 16th century as a Scottish shortening of the fuller All-Hallow-Even, that is, the night before All Hallows' Day.[106] Dumfries poet John Mayne's 1780 poem made note of pranks at Halloween "What fearfu' pranks ensue!". Scottish poet Robert Burns was influenced by Mayne's composition, and portrayed some of the customs in his poem Halloween (1785).[107] According to Burns, Halloween is "thought to be a night when witches, devils, and other mischief-making beings are all abroad on their baneful midnight errands".[108] Among the earliest record of Guising at Halloween in Scotland is in 1895, where masqueraders in disguise carrying lanterns made out of scooped out turnips, visit homes to be rewarded with cakes, fruit and money.[109] If children approached the door of a house, they were given offerings of food. The children's practice of "guising", going from door to door in costumes for food or coins, is a traditional Halloween custom in Scotland.[3] These days children who knock on their neighbours doors have to sing a song or tell stories for a gift of sweets or money.[110] A traditional Halloween game includes apple "dooking",[111] or "dunking" or (i.e., retrieving one from a bucket of water using only one's mouth), and attempting to eat, while blindfolded, a treacle/jam-coated scone hanging on a piece of string. Traditional customs and lore include divination practices, ways of trying to predict the future. A traditional Scottish form of divining one's future spouse is to carve an apple in one long strip, then toss the peel over one's shoulder. The peel is believed to land in the shape of the first letter of the future spouse's name.[112] In Kilmarnock, Halloween is also celebrated on the last Friday of the month, and is known colloquially as "Killieween".[113] Isle of Man See also: Hop-tu-Naa Halloween is a popular traditional occasion on the Isle of Man, where it is known as Hop-tu-Naa. Elsewhere The children of the largest town in Bonaire gather together on Halloween day. Saint Helena In Saint Helena, Halloween is actively celebrated, largely along the American model, with ghosts, skeletons, devils, vampires, witches and the like. Imitation pumpkins are used instead of real pumpkins because the pumpkin harvesting season in Saint Helena's hemisphere is not near Halloween. Trick-or-treating is widespread. Party venues provide entertainment for adults." (wikipedia.org) "Halloween is an American slasher media franchise that consists of thirteen films, as well as novels, comic books, a video game and other merchandise. The films primarily focus on Michael Myers, who was committed to a sanitarium as a child for the murder of his sister, Judith Myers. Fifteen years later, he escapes to stalk and kill the people of the fictional town of Haddonfield, Illinois. Michael's killings occur on the holiday of Halloween, on which all of the films primarily take place. Throughout the series various protagonists try to stop Myers including, most notably, babysitter Laurie Strode (primarily portrayed by Jamie Lee Curtis) and psychiatrist Dr. Samuel Loomis (primarily portrayed by Donald Pleasence). The original Halloween, released in 1978, was written by John Carpenter and Debra Hill—the film's director and producer respectively. The film, itself inspired by Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho and Bob Clark's Black Christmas, is known to have inspired a long line of slasher films. Twelve films have followed since the 1978 original was released. Michael Myers is the antagonist in all of the entries with the exception of Halloween III: Season of the Witch, a story with no direct connection to any other film in the series. Starting with Halloween II, most of the various sequels appeared between 1981 and 2002, including a 10th anniversary film in 1988 and a 20th anniversary sequel in 1998. In 2007 writer-director Rob Zombie created a remake of the 1978 film (and a sequel released two years later). The franchise would go dormant for nine years until a direct sequel to the original film, which ignores all previous sequels, was released in 2018. The sequel to the 2018 film, Halloween Kills, was released in 2021 with the most recent entry, Halloween Ends, released on October 14, 2022.[1][2] The franchise is notable for its multiple timelines, continuities, remakes and reboots, which can make it confusing for new viewers. Forbes' Scott Mendelson called it the "Choose Your Own Adventure" of horror movie franchises.[3] The films collectively grossed over $884 million at the box office worldwide.[4] The film series is ranked first at the United States box office—in adjusted 2018 dollars—when compared to other American horror film franchises. The original film received critical acclaim, while the 2018 film received mostly positive reviews. The other films have received either mixed or negative reviews from critics. Films Film     U.S. release date     Director(s)     Screenwriter(s)     Producer(s) Halloween     October 25, 1978     John Carpenter     John Carpenter and Debra Hill     Debra Hill Halloween II     October 30, 1981     Rick Rosenthal     Debra Hill and John Carpenter Halloween III: Season of the Witch     October 22, 1982     Tommy Lee Wallace Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers     October 21, 1988     Dwight H. Little     Dhani Lipsius, Larry Rattner & Benjamin Ruffner and Alan B. McElroy     Paul Freeman Halloween 5: The Revenge of Michael Myers     October 13, 1989     Dominique Othenin-Girard     Michael Jacobs & Dominique Othenin-Girard and Shem Bitterman     Ramsey Thomas Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers     September 29, 1995     Joe Chappelle     Daniel Farrands     Paul Freeman Halloween H20: 20 Years Later     August 5, 1998     Steve Miner     Robert Zappia and Matt Greenberg Halloween: Resurrection     July 12, 2002     Rick Rosenthal     Larry Brand and Sean Hood Halloween     August 31, 2007     Rob Zombie     Malek Akkad, Andy Gould and Rob Zombie Halloween II     August 28, 2009 Halloween     October 19, 2018     David Gordon Green     Jeff Fradley, Danny McBride & David Gordon Green     Malek Akkad, Jason Blum & Bill Block Halloween Kills     October 15, 2021     Scott Teems, Danny McBride & David Gordon Green Halloween Ends     October 14, 2022     Paul Brad Logan, Chris Bernier, Danny McBride & David Gordon Green Overview An infographic illustrating the continuity between the Halloween films. Described by Scott Mendelson of Forbes as the "Choose Your Own Adventure" of horror movie franchises, the franchise is notable for its multiple timelines, continuities, remakes and reboots, which can make it confusing for new viewers, often leading to articles explaining the previous films before each new release.[3][6][7] The original Halloween (1978), co-written by John Carpenter and Debra Hill and directed by Carpenter, tells the story of Michael Myers as he stalks and kills teenage babysitters on Halloween night. The film begins with six-year-old Michael (Will Sandin) killing his older sister Judith (Sandy Johnson) on Halloween night 1963 in the fictional town of Haddonfield, Illinois. He is subsequently hospitalized at Warren County's Smith's Grove Sanitarium. Fifteen years later, Michael (Nick Castle) escapes from Smith's Grove and returns to his hometown while being pursued by his psychiatrist, Dr. Sam Loomis (Donald Pleasence). Michael stalks high school student Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis) and her friends as they babysit. Murdering Laurie's friends, Michael finally attacks Laurie herself, but she manages to fend him off long enough for Loomis to save her. Loomis shoots Michael off a balcony, but when Loomis goes to check Michael's body, he has vanished.[8] Halloween II (1981) picks up where the events of Halloween left off. Michael (Dick Warlock) follows Laurie to the local hospital, killing everyone who comes between them. The story reveals that Laurie is actually Michael's sister: she was given up for adoption as an infant. After Michael chases Laurie throughout the hospital, he corners Loomis and Laurie in an operating room, where Loomis causes an explosion as Laurie escapes. Michael, engulfed in flames, stumbles out of the room before finally falling dead.[9] Halloween III: Season of the Witch was an attempt to redirect the Halloween franchise into an anthology series; Season of the Witch does not follow the continuity of the previous two entries, presenting them as fictional movies within its narrative. This installment follows the story of Dr. Dan Challis (Tom Atkins) as he tries to solve the mysterious murder of a patient in his hospital. Joined by the patient's daughter Ellie (Stacey Nelkin), he travels to the small town of Santa Mira, California. The pair discover that Silver Shamrock Novelties, a company run by Conal Cochran (Dan O'Herlihy), is attempting to use the mystic powers of the Stonehenge rocks to resurrect the ancient witchcraft of the Celtic festival, Samhain. Cochran is using his Silver Shamrock Halloween masks to achieve his goal, which will kill all the children wearing his masks as they watch a special Silver Shamrock commercial airing Halloween night. After destroying Cochran and his henchmen, Challis desperately tries to convince the television station managers not to air the commercial. The film ends with Challis screaming for a final station to stop the commercial.[10] Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers, as the title suggests, features the return of Michael Myers (George P. Wilbur) to the film series. It is revealed that Michael has been in a comatose state for ten years since the explosion in Halloween II. While being transferred back to Smith's Grove, Michael awakens upon hearing that Laurie Strode died in a car accident after having a daughter, Jamie Lloyd (Danielle Harris). Michael escapes and makes his way to Haddonfield in search of his niece, while Dr. Loomis pursues him once again. Eventually, the police track Michael down and shoot him several times before he falls down a mine shaft.[11] Halloween 5: The Revenge of Michael Myers picks up directly where the previous film ends and has Michael (Don Shanks) surviving the gunshots and the fall down the mine; he stumbles upon a hermit who bandages him up. One year later, and showing signs of a psychic connection to Jamie, Michael tracks her to a local child mental health clinic. Using Jamie as bait, Loomis manages to capture Michael. The film ends with Michael being taken into police custody, only to be broken out of jail by a mysterious stranger, all dressed in black (whose black boots were shown throughout the entire film).[12] Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers picks up the story six years after the events of Halloween 5. The mysterious stranger who broke Michael out of jail also kidnapped Jamie Lloyd (J. C. Brandy). Jamie, having been held captive by the man in black, gives birth to a baby boy with whom she escapes, while Michael (George P. Wilbur) pursues them. Michael kills Jamie and continues searching for her baby; the infant is found and brought to safety by Tommy Doyle (Paul Rudd), the young boy who was babysat by Laurie Strode in the first film. It is revealed that Michael is driven by the Curse of Thorn, which forces a person to kill their entire family in order to save all of civilization. The mysterious stranger is revealed to be Dr. Loomis's colleague, Dr. Terrence Wynn (Mitchell Ryan), who is part of a cult who protect the chosen individual so that they may complete their task. With the help of Kara Strode (Marianne Hagan), Laurie's adoptive cousin, Tommy keeps the infant from Michael, who slaughters Wynn and his followers. Michael is finally subdued by Tommy, who injects him with large quantities of tranquilizers inside the Smith's Grove Sanitarium before escaping.[13] Halloween H20: 20 Years Later ignores the events that transpire after the second film and opens twenty years after the events of the first two films and establishes that Michael Myers (Chris Durand) has been missing since the explosion in 1978. Laurie Strode (Curtis) has faked her own death so that she could go into hiding from her brother. Now working as the headmistress of a private school under the name Keri Tate, Laurie continues to live in fear of Michael's return. Her son, John (Josh Hartnett), attends the same school. Laurie's fear becomes reality when Michael shows up at the school and begins killing John's friends. Laurie manages to get John and his girlfriend (Michelle Williams) to safety but decides to face Michael once and for all. After a long fight, Laurie decapitates Michael with a fire axe, finally killing him.[14] Halloween: Resurrection picks up three years after H20 and reveals that Michael escaped after swapping clothes with a paramedic, crushing the man's larynx so that he could not talk, and that was whom Laurie killed. Laurie is committed to a mental institution, where Michael (Brad Loree) shows up. He kills Laurie and travels back to his family home in Haddonfield but finds a group of college students filming an Internet reality show. Michael murders the cast and crew until he is electrocuted by the only surviving student, Sara Moyer (Bianca Kajlich), and the show's creator Freddie Harris (Busta Rhymes). Michael's body and the bodies of his victims are then taken to the morgue. As the medical examiner begins to inspect Michael's body, he suddenly awakens.[15] Halloween (2007), a remake of the original film, focuses on the events that led Michael Myers (Daeg Faerch) to kill his family. It also identifies Laurie as Michael's sister early on. On Halloween, Michael murders a school bully, his older sister Judith and her boyfriend, and his mother's abusive boyfriend. Committed to Smith's Grove Sanitarium, Michael closes himself off from everyone and stops speaking. Michael's mother Deborah (Sheri Moon Zombie) commits suicide out of guilt. Fifteen years later, Michael (Tyler Mane) escapes and heads to Haddonfield to find his sister, with his psychiatrist Dr. Sam Loomis (Malcolm McDowell) in pursuit. Michael finds his sister living with the Strode family and going by the name Laurie (Scout Taylor-Compton). After killing nearly all of her friends and family, Michael then kidnaps Laurie and attempts to explain to her that he is her brother through the use of a picture he has kept of himself and her as an infant. Unable to understand, Laurie fights back and eventually uses Loomis's gun to shoot Michael in the head. Laurie screams in horror as the credits roll.[16] Halloween II (2009), a sequel to the remake, picks up right where the previous film leaves off before jumping ahead one year. Here, Michael is presumed dead but resurfaces after a vision of his deceased mother informs him that he must track Laurie down so that they can "come home" together. In the film, Michael and Laurie have a mental link, with the two sharing visions of their mother. It is also revealed that Laurie's original name is Angel Myers. During the film's climax, Laurie kills Michael by stabbing him repeatedly in the chest and face with his own knife. The final scene suggests that she has taken on her brother's psychosis as she dons his mask and is committed to an asylum, hallucinating her mother walking with a white horse. In the Director's Cut, Michael and Laurie are both gunned down by the police.[17] Halloween (2018) is a direct sequel to the original film, ignoring the sibling relationship and other continuity established in previous installments. Michael (James Jude Courtney) was arrested in 1978 and has spent forty years back in Smith's Grove Sanitarium. During a prison transfer on the night before Halloween, Michael is able to escape the bus after it crashes and returns to Haddonfield for another rampage. After Michael kills his deranged psychologist, who had taken him to Laurie's home, he engages in a showdown with Laurie, her daughter Karen, and her granddaughter Allyson. The trio ultimately trap him in her house, which they set ablaze.[18][19][20] Halloween Kills (2021) takes place immediately after its predecessor, with firefighters arriving at the blazing building, unwittingly freeing Michael to continue his killing spree. Laurie is taken to the hospital with life-threatening injuries. Karen stays behind with Laurie while Allyson joins a mob who hunts down Michael. Michael slaughters the entire mob except for Allyson. The film ends with Michael stabbing Karen to death.[21] Halloween Ends (2022) picks up four years after Kills and sees Laurie reeling from the events of Michael's rampage by moving into a new home with Allyson and writing a memoir. The film focuses on Corey Cunningham, an ex-babysitter who has been scarred by accidentally killing the boy he was watching and rendering him a social reject. Laurie protects Corey from a group of bullies and introduces him to Allyson, and they immediately develop feelings for each other. Corey encounters a now-weakened Michael in the sewers, ending with the two locking eyes and Michael letting him go. This sends Corey on a murdering spree, with Laurie tracking him and trying to convince Allyson to end their relationship. On Halloween, after making plans to skip town with Allyson, Corey steals Michael's mask in a brawl and goes on a mission to murder everyone that disrespected him. After a fight, Allyson abandons Laurie in a fit of rage, and Corey sneaks into their home with the intent of killing Laurie. She defends herself by shooting him, but Corey stabs himself in the neck to frame Laurie for his death. Michael returns for his mask, kills Corey by snapping his neck, and fights Laurie in a final confrontation in the kitchen. Allyson returns to assist her grandmother, and Laurie gets the upper hand before cutting Michael's throat and slicing his wrist, and he finally dies from extreme blood loss. The townspeople come together to throw Michael's corpse into an industrial shredder, ending his reign of terror for good....Music John Carpenter composed the music to the first three films. For Halloween, Carpenter chose to use a piano melody played in a 5/4 time rhythm instead of a symphonic soundtrack. Critic James Berardinelli calls the score "relatively simple and unsophisticated", but admits that "Halloween's music is one of its strongest assets."[58] Carpenter stated in an interview, "I can play just about any keyboard, but I can't read or write a note."[25] In the end credits, Carpenter bills himself as the "Bowling Green Orchestra" for performing the film's score, but he did receive assistance from composer Dan Wyman, a music professor at San Jose State University. The score for Halloween II is a variation of John Carpenter's compositions from the first film, particularly the main theme's familiar piano melody played. The score was performed on a synthesizer organ rather than the piano used for Halloween.[60] One reviewer for the BBC described the revised score as having "a more Gothic feel". The reviewer asserted that it "doesn't sound quite as good as the original piece", but "it still remains a classic piece of music".[61] Music remained an important element in establishing the atmosphere of Halloween III. Just as in Halloween and Halloween II, there was no symphonic score.[62] Much of the music was composed to solicit "false startles" from the audience.[63] The soundtrack was composed by John Carpenter and Alan Howarth, who had also worked on the score for Halloween II. The score of Halloween III differed greatly from the familiar main theme of the original and its first sequel. Carpenter replaced the familiar piano melody with a slower, electronic theme played on a synthesizer with beeping tonalities.[64] Howarth explains how he and Carpenter composed the music for the third film:     The music style of John Carpenter and myself has further evolved in this film soundtrack by working exclusively with synthesizers to produce our music. This has led to a certain procedural routine. The film is first transferred to a time coded video tape and synchronized to a 24 track master audio recorder; then while watching the film we compose the music to these visual images. The entire process goes quite rapidly and has 'instant gratification', allowing us to evaluate the score in synch to the picture. This is quite an invaluable asset.[65] Following Carpenter's departure from the series, Howarth would stay on board as the sole composer for the next two sequels, and also acted as the lead composer on Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers, with Paul Rabjohns providing additional music when the initial edit of the film was substantially re-filmed.[66] While Halloween H20 credits John Ottman as its sole composer, in reality most of the soundtrack was provided by Scream composer Marco Beltrami, using a mixture of music from that film and a few original cues written by Beltrami, after the producers disliked Ottman's score.[67] Danny Lux provided the soundtrack for Halloween: Resurrection,[68] while Tyler Bates composed the soundtracks for both the 2007 Halloween reboot and its 2009 sequel....Future Halloween Ends was meant to conclude the new timeline set forward by the 2018 film, but Jason Blum expressed interest in making further films in October 2021. "I would love to extend it," Blum told ComicBook.com. "If Malek [Akkad] would like us, I'd love to extend it, but we're very busy making sure the third movie is spectacular because that's our immediate job and if it goes beyond that, I'd be thrilled. But there are currently no plans for us to be involved after this third movie."[95] John Carpenter explained that possible future installments were dependent on the commercial success of Ends, although he acknowledged that Green was adamant in Ends being their story's ending.[96] In an interview with The New York Times, Jamie Lee Curtis commented that the four films, commencing with the 1978 Halloween and concluding with Halloween Ends, were self-contained, although there was still the possibility of a new narrative being adapted into future films.[97] Green stated that he was confident on parting with Jamie Lee Curtis' Laurie Strode with the film, though he acknowledged the possibility of eventually some filmmakers creating a "new Laurie" with some plot twist to continue the franchise's mythology.[98] Curtis had previously confirmed in an essay for People that Halloween Ends marked her last appearance in the franchise;[99] Jude Courtney likewise affirmed to Screen Rant that, alongside Curtis, he feels "done" with the franchise due to both his age and career trajectory, having felt Halloween and Kills as playoffs and Ends as a Super Bowl win so he decided to retire as the character triumphantly.[100] Jason Blum later stated that, while it would not necessarily be the final film in the franchise, it will be the last Halloween movie under Blumhouse Productions, with the intellectual property rights reverting to producer Malek Akkad following the release of Ends." (wikipedia.org) "Halloween is a 1978 American independent slasher film directed and scored by John Carpenter, co-written with producer Debra Hill, and starring Donald Pleasence and Jamie Lee Curtis (in her film debut), with P. J. Soles and Nancy Loomis in supporting roles. Set mostly in the fictional town of Haddonfield, Illinois, the plot centers on a mental patient, Michael Myers, who was committed to a sanitarium for murdering his teenage sister on Halloween night when he was a child. Fifteen years later, having escaped and returned to his hometown, he stalks teenage babysitter Laurie Strode and her friends while under pursuit by his psychiatrist Dr. Samuel Loomis. Filming took place in Southern California in May 1978. The film premiered in October and grossed $70 million, becoming one of the most profitable independent films of all time. Primarily praised for Carpenter's direction and score, many critics credit the film as the first in a long line of slasher films inspired by Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho (1960) and Bob Clark's Black Christmas (1974). It is considered one of the greatest and most influential horror films ever made. In 2006, it was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".[9][10] Halloween spawned a film franchise comprising thirteen films which helped construct an extensive backstory for its antagonist Michael Myers, sometimes narratively diverging entirely from previous installments. Additionally, a novelization, a video game and comic book series have been based on the film. Plot On Halloween night 1963, in the suburban town of Haddonfield, Illinois, six-year-old Michael Myers brutally stabs his teenage sister Judith to death with a kitchen knife. Fifteen years later, his psychiatrist, Dr. Samuel Loomis, drives with a colleague, Nurse Marion Chambers, to the sanitarium where Michael is incarcerated to escort him to a court hearing. After Loomis exits their car to unlock the main gate, Michael jumps on the roof and attacks Marion. She runs from the vehicle, allowing Michael to steal the car and drive off. Michael makes his way back to Haddonfield, killing a mechanic for his coveralls on the way and stealing a white mask from a local hardware store. He begins stalking teenager Laurie Strode, whom he saw drop off a key at his long-abandoned childhood house that her father is trying to sell. Laurie notices Michael throughout the day, but her friends Annie Brackett and Lynda Van Der Klok dismiss her concerns. Loomis arrives in Haddonfield and discovers that Michael has stolen Judith's tombstone from the local cemetery. He meets up with Annie's father, Sheriff Leigh Brackett, and they begin to search for Michael. While they investigate the old Myers house, Loomis describes how he came to realize that Michael is pure evil. That night, Michael follows Annie and Laurie to their babysitting jobs. Laurie watches Tommy Doyle, while Annie stays with Lindsey Wallace across the street. Michael spies on Annie and kills the Wallace family dog. Tommy spots Michael from the windows and thinks he is the boogeyman, but Laurie dismisses him. Later, Annie takes Lindsey to the Doyle house for the night so she can pick up her boyfriend. Michael hides in her car and kills Annie by slashing her throat. Lynda and her boyfriend Bob arrive at the Wallace house and find it empty. After having sex, Bob goes downstairs for a beer, where Michael pins him to the wall with a kitchen knife. Michael then poses as Bob in a ghost costume and confronts Lynda, who teases him to no effect. Annoyed, she calls Laurie to find out what happened to Annie, but Michael strangles her to death with the phone cord while Laurie listens on the other end. Meanwhile, Loomis discovers the stolen car and searches the streets. Worried by the phone call, Laurie goes to the Wallace house and finds her friends' bodies, as well as Judith's headstone, in the upstairs bedroom. She runs to the hallway where Michael slashes her arm, causing her to fall over the banister. She manages to escape the house with Michael in pursuit. Laurie makes it back to the Doyle house and tries to call for help, only to find the phone dead. Michael sneaks in through the window and attacks her again, but she stabs him in the neck with a knitting needle. Thinking he is dead, she staggers upstairs to check on the children, where Michael appears again. Hiding in a closet, Laurie stabs him in the eye with a coat hanger and then in the chest with his own knife. After she sends Tommy and Lindsey to a neighbor's house to call the police, Michael rises again. Seeing the children running from the house, Loomis goes to investigate and sees Michael strangling Laurie. She breaks free by pulling his mask off, revealing his face. Loomis shoots Michael, knocking him off the balcony. When he goes to check on the body, Loomis sees that Michael has vanished. Unsurprised, he stares off into the night as Laurie sobs in terror. Cast Main article: List of Halloween characters     Donald Pleasence as Dr. Samuel "Sam" Loomis     Jamie Lee Curtis as Laurie Strode     Nick Castle as The Shape (Michael Myers masked)         Tony Moran as Michael Myers – age 21 (mistakenly 23 in credits) (Michael Myers unmasked at the end of the film)         Will Sandin as Michael Myers – age 6     Nancy Loomis as Annie Brackett     P. J. Soles as Lynda Van Der Klok     Charles Cyphers as Sheriff Leigh Brackett     Kyle Richards as Lindsey Wallace     Brian Andrews as Tommy Doyle     John Michael Graham as Bob Simms     Nancy Stephens as Marion Chambers     Arthur Malet as Angus Taylor     Mickey Yablans as Richie Castle     Brent Le Page as Lonnie Elam     Adam Hollander as Keith     Robert Phalen as Dr. Terence Wynn     Sandy Johnson as Judith Myers     Peter Griffith as Morgan Strode     David Kyle as Danny Hodges Analysis Themes Scholar Carol J. Clover has argued that the film, and its genre at large, links sexuality with danger, saying that killers in slasher films are fueled by a "psychosexual fury"[11] and that all the killings are sexual in nature. She reinforces this idea by saying that "guns have no place in slasher films" and when examining the film I Spit on Your Grave she notes that "a hands-on killing answers a hands-on rape in a way that a shooting, even a shooting preceded by a humiliation, does not."[12] Equating sex with violence is important in Halloween and the slasher genre according to film scholar Pat Gill, who made a note of this in her essay "The Monstrous Years: Teens, Slasher Films, and the Family". She remarks that Laurie's friends "think of their babysitting jobs as opportunities to share drinks and beds with their boyfriends. One by one they are killed ... by Michael Myers an asylum escapee who years ago at the age of six murdered his sister for preferring sex to taking care of him."[13] Carpenter has distanced himself from these interpretations, saying "It has been suggested that I was making some kind of moral statement. Believe me, I'm not. In Halloween, I viewed the characters as simply normal teenagers."[14] In another interview, Carpenter said that readings of the film as a morality play "completely missed the point," adding, "The one girl who is the most sexually uptight just keeps stabbing this guy with a long knife. She's the most sexually frustrated. She's the one that's killed him. Not because she's a virgin but because all that sexually repressed energy starts coming out. She uses all those phallic symbols on the guy."[15] Some feminist critics, according to historian Nicholas Rogers, "have seen the slasher movies since Halloween as debasing women in as decisive a manner as hard-core pornography."[16] Critics such as John Kenneth Muir state that female characters such as Laurie Strode survive not because of "any good planning" or their own resourcefulness, but sheer luck. Although she manages to repel the killer several times, in the end, Strode is rescued in Halloween and Halloween II only when Dr. Loomis arrives to shoot Myers.[17] However, Clover has argued that despite the violence against women, Halloween and other slasher films turned women into heroines.[18] In many pre-Halloween horror films, women are depicted as helpless victims and are not safe until they are rescued by a strong masculine hero. Despite the fact that Loomis saves Strode, Clover asserts that Halloween initiates the role of the "final girl" who ultimately triumphs in the end. Strode fights back against Myers and severely wounds him.[19] Had Myers been a normal man, Strode's attacks would have killed him; even Loomis, the male hero of the story, who shoots Michael repeatedly with a revolver, cannot kill him.[20] Aviva Briefel argued that moments such as when Michael's face was temporarily revealed are meant to give pleasure to the male viewer. Briefel further argues that these moments are masochistic in nature and give pleasure to men because they are willingly submitting themselves to the women of the film; they submit themselves temporarily because it will make their return to authority even more powerful.[21] Critics, such as Gill, see Halloween as a critique of American social values. She remarks that parental figures are almost entirely absent throughout the film, noting that when Laurie is attacked by Michael while babysitting, "No parents, either of the teenagers or of the children left in their charge, call to check on their children or arrive to keen over them."[13] According to Gill, the dangers of suburbia is another major theme that runs throughout the film and the slasher genre at large: Gill states that slasher films "seem to mock white flight to gated communities, in particular the attempts of parents to shield their children from the dangerous influences represented by the city."[22] Halloween and slasher films, generally, represent the underside of suburbia to Gill.[23] Myers was raised in a suburban household and after he escapes the mental hospital he returns to his hometown to kill again; Myers is a product of the suburban environment, writes Gill.[22] Michael is thought by some to represent evil in the film. This is based on the common belief that evil never dies, nor does evil show remorse. This idea is demonstrated in the film when Dr. Loomis discusses Michael's history with the sheriff. Loomis states, "I spent eight years trying to reach him [Michael Myers], and then another seven trying to keep him locked up because I realized that what was living behind that boy's eyes was purely and simply ... evil." Loomis also refers to Michael as "evil" when he steals his car at the sanitarium.[24] Aesthetic elements A man and woman embracing on a couch Judith Myers and her boyfriend, as viewed from the point-of-view of young Michael Myers; this voyeuristic perspective is a distinguishing feature of the film's opening scene Historian Nicholas Rogers notes that film critics contend that Carpenter's direction and camera work made Halloween a "resounding success."[25] Roger Ebert remarks, "It's easy to create violence on the screen, but it's hard to do it well. Carpenter is uncannily skilled, for example, at the use of foregrounds in his compositions, and everyone who likes thrillers knows that foregrounds are crucial . ... "[26] The opening title, featuring a jack-o'-lantern placed against a black backdrop, sets the mood for the entire film. The camera slowly moves toward the jack-o'-lantern's left eye as the main title theme plays. After the camera fully closes in, the jack-o'-lantern's light dims and goes out. Film historian J.P. Telotte says that this scene "clearly announces that [the film's] primary concern will be with the way in which we see ourselves and others and the consequences that often attend our usual manner of perception."[27] Carpenter's first-person point-of-view compositions were employed with steadicam; Telotte argues, "As a result of this shift in perspective from a disembodied, narrative camera to an actual character's eye ... we are forced into a deeper sense of participation in the ensuing action."[28] Along with the 1974 Canadian horror film Black Christmas, Halloween made use of seeing events through the killer's eyes.[29] The first scene of the young Michael's voyeurism is followed by the murder of Judith seen through the eye holes of Michael's clown costume mask. According to scholar Nicholas Rogers, Carpenter's "frequent use of the unmounted first-person camera to represent the killer's point of view ... invited [viewers] to adopt the murderer's assaultive gaze and to hear his heavy breathing and plodding footsteps as he stalked his prey."[25] Film analysts have noted its delayed or withheld representations of violence, characterized as the "false startle" or "the old tap-on-the-shoulder routine" in which the stalkers, murderers, or monsters "lunge into our field of vision or creep up on a person."[30] Critic Susan Stark described the film's opening sequence in her 1978 review:     In a single, wonderfully fluid tracking shot, the camera establishes the quiet character of a suburban street, the sexual hanky-panky going on between a teenage couple in one of the staid-looking homes, the departure of the boyfriend, a hand in the kitchen drawer removing a butcher's knife, the view on the way upstairs from behind the eye-slits of a Halloween mask, the murder of a half-nude young girl seated at her dressing table, the descent downstairs and whammo! The killer stands speechless on the lawn, holding the bloody knife, a small boy in a satin clown suit with a newly-returned parent on each side shrieking in an attempt to find out what the spectacle means.[31] Production Concept After viewing Carpenter's film Assault on Precinct 13 (1976) at the Milan Film Festival, independent film producer Irwin Yablans and financier Moustapha Akkad sought out Carpenter to direct a film for them about a psychotic killer that stalked babysitters.[32][33] In an interview with Fangoria magazine, Yablans stated: "I was thinking what would make sense in the horror genre, and what I wanted to do was make a picture that had the same impact as The Exorcist."[32] Carpenter agreed to direct the film contingent on his having full creative control,[34] and was paid $10,000 for his work, which included writing, directing, and scoring the film.[35] He and his then-girlfriend Debra Hill began drafting the story of Halloween.[36][37][14] There is an urban myth that the film at one point was supposed to be called The Babysitter Murders but Yablans has since debunked this stating that it was always intended to be called (and take place on) Halloween.[38] Carpenter said of the basic concept: "Halloween night. It has never been the theme in a film. My idea was to do an old haunted house film."[39] Film director Bob Clark suggested in an interview released in 2005[40] that Carpenter had asked him for his own ideas for a sequel to his 1974 film Black Christmas (written by Roy Moore) that featured an unseen and motiveless killer murdering students in a university sorority house. As also stated in the 2009 documentary Clarkworld (written and directed by Clark's former production designer Deren Abram after Clark's tragic death in 2007), Carpenter directly asked Clark about his thoughts on developing the anonymous slasher in Black Christmas:     ... I did a film about three years later, started a film with John Carpenter, it was his first film for Warner Bros. (which picked up Black Christmas), he asked me if I was ever gonna do a sequel and I said no. I was through with horror, I didn't come into the business to do just horror. He said, 'Well what would you do if you did do a sequel?' I said it would be the next year and the guy would have actually been caught, escape from a mental institution, go back to the house and they would start all over again. And I would call it Halloween. The truth is John didn't copy Black Christmas, he wrote a script, directed the script, did the casting. Halloween is his movie and besides, the script came to him already titled anyway. He liked Black Christmas and may have been influenced by it, but in no way did John Carpenter copy the idea. Fifteen other people at that time had thought to do a movie called Halloween but the script came to John with that title on it.     — Bob Clark, 2005 interview, Icons of Fright[40] Screenplay It took approximately 10 days to write the screenplay.[36] Yablans and Akkad ceded most of the creative control to writers Carpenter and Hill (whom Carpenter wanted as producer), but Yablans did offer several suggestions. According to a Fangoria interview with Hill, "Yablans wanted the script written like a radio show, with 'boos' every 10 minutes."[32] By Hill's recollection, the script took three weeks to write,[41] and much of the inspiration behind the plot came from Celtic traditions of Halloween such as the festival of Samhain. Although Samhain is not mentioned in the plot of the first film, Hill asserts that:     ... the idea was that you couldn't kill evil, and that was how we came about the story. We went back to the old idea of Samhain, that Halloween was the night where all the souls are let out to wreak havoc on the living, and then came up with the story about the most evil kid who ever lived. And when John came up with this fable of a town with a dark secret of someone who once lived there, and now that evil has come back, that's what made Halloween work.[42]     I met this six-year-old child with this blank, pale, emotionless face, and the blackest eyes; the devil's eyes ... I realized what was living behind that boy's eyes was purely and simply ... evil. —Loomis' description of a young Michael was inspired by John Carpenter's experience with a real life mental patient[43] Hill, who had worked as a babysitter during her teenage years, wrote most of the female characters' dialogue,[44] while Carpenter drafted Loomis' speeches on the soullessness of Michael Myers. Many script details were drawn from Carpenter's and Hill's own backgrounds and early careers: The fictional town of Haddonfield, Illinois was derived from Haddonfield, New Jersey, where Hill was raised,[45] while several of the street names were taken from Carpenter's hometown of Bowling Green, Kentucky.[45] Laurie Strode was allegedly the name of one of Carpenter's old girlfriends,[46] while Michael Myers was the name of an English producer who had previously entered, with Yablans, Assault on Precinct 13 in various European film festivals.[32] Homage is paid to Alfred Hitchcock with two characters' names: Tommy Doyle is named after Lt. Det. Thomas J. Doyle (Wendell Corey) from Rear Window (1954),[47] and Dr. Loomis' name was derived from Sam Loomis (John Gavin) from Psycho, the boyfriend of Marion Crane (Janet Leigh, who is the real-life mother of Jamie Lee Curtis).[48][36] Sheriff Leigh Brackett shared the name of a Hollywood screenwriter and frequent collaborator of Howard Hawks.[49] In devising the backstory for the film's villain, Michael Myers, Carpenter drew on "haunted house" folklore that exists in many small American communities: "Most small towns have a kind of haunted house story of one kind or another," he stated. "At least that's what teenagers believe. There's always a house down the lane that somebody was killed in, or that somebody went crazy in."[50] Carpenter also took inspiration from Westworld (1973) for Michael Myers.[51] Carpenter's inspiration for the "evil" that Michael embodied came from a visit he had taken during college to a psychiatric institution in Kentucky.[52] There, he visited a ward with his psychology classmates where "the most serious, mentally ill patients" were held.[52][53] Among those patients was an adolescent boy, who possessed a blank, "schizophrenic stare."[43] Carpenter's experience inspired the characterization that Loomis gave of Michael to Sheriff Brackett in the film.[43] Debra Hill has stated the scene where Michael kills the Wallaces' German Shepherd was done to illustrate how he is "really evil and deadly".[54] The ending scene of Michael disappearing after being shot six times and falling off the balcony, was meant to terrify the imagination of the audience. Using a montage of the houses as Michael's breathing is heard, Carpenter tried to keep the audience guessing as to who Michael Myers really is—he is gone, and everywhere at the same time; he is more than human; he may be supernatural, and no one knows how he got that way. To Carpenter, keeping the audience guessing was better than explaining away the character with "he's cursed by some..."[54] Carpenter has described Halloween as: "True crass exploitation. I decided to make a film I would love to have seen as a kid, full of cheap tricks like a haunted house at a fair where you walk down the corridor and things jump out at you."[55] Casting Donald Pleasence plays Dr. Sam Loomis, the hero of the film. Nick Castle played the adult version of Michael Myers. The cast of Halloween included veteran actor Donald Pleasence and then-unknown actress Jamie Lee Curtis.[45] The low budget limited the number of big names that Carpenter could attract, and most of the actors received very little compensation for their roles. Pleasence was paid the highest amount at $20,000, Curtis received $8,000, and Nick Castle earned $25 a day.[32] The role of Dr. Loomis was originally intended for Peter Cushing, who had recently appeared as Grand Moff Tarkin in Star Wars (1977); Cushing's agent rejected Carpenter's offer due to the low salary.[56] Christopher Lee was approached for the role; he too turned it down, although the actor later told Carpenter and Hill that declining the role was the biggest mistake he made during his career.[57] Yablans then suggested Pleasence, who agreed to star because his daughter Lucy, a guitarist, had enjoyed Assault on Precinct 13 for Carpenter's score.[58] In an interview, Carpenter admits that "Jamie Lee wasn't the first choice for Laurie. I had no idea who she was. She was 19 and in a TV show at the time, but I didn't watch TV." He originally wanted to cast Anne Lockhart, the daughter of June Lockhart from Lassie, as Laurie Strode. However, Lockhart had commitments to several other film and television projects.[45] Hill says of learning that Jamie Lee was the daughter of Psycho actress Janet Leigh: "I knew casting Jamie Lee would be great publicity for the film because her mother was in Psycho."[59] Curtis was cast in the part, though she initially had reservations as she felt she identified more with the other female characters: "I was very much a smart alec, and was a cheerleader in high school, so [I] felt very concerned that I was being considered for the quiet, repressed young woman when in fact I was very much like the other two girls."[60] Another relatively unknown actress, Nancy Kyes (credited in the film as Nancy Loomis), was cast as Laurie's outspoken friend Annie Brackett, daughter of Haddonfield sheriff Leigh Brackett (Charles Cyphers).[61] Kyes had previously starred in Assault on Precinct 13 (as had Cyphers) and happened to be dating Halloween's art director Tommy Lee Wallace when filming began.[62] Carpenter chose P. J. Soles to play Lynda Van Der Klok, another loquacious friend of Laurie's, best remembered in the film for dialogue peppered with the word "totally."[63] Soles was an actress known for her supporting role in Carrie (1976) and her minor part in The Boy in the Plastic Bubble (1976) and would subsequently play Riff Randall in the 1979 film Rock 'n Roll High School.[64] According to Soles, she was told after being cast that Carpenter had written the role with her in mind.[65] Soles's then-husband, actor Dennis Quaid, was considered for the role of Bob Simms, Lynda's boyfriend, but was unable to perform the role due to prior work commitments.[66] The role of "The Shape"—as the masked Michael Myers character was billed in the end credits—was played by Nick Castle, who befriended Carpenter while they attended the University of Southern California.[67] After Halloween, Castle became a director, taking the helm of films such as The Last Starfighter (1984), The Boy Who Could Fly (1986), Dennis the Menace (1993), and Major Payne (1995).[68] Tony Moran plays the unmasked Michael at the end of the film. Moran was a struggling actor before he got the role.[69] At the time, he had a job on Hollywood and Vine dressed up as Frankenstein.[70] Moran had the same agent as his sister, Erin, who played Joanie Cunningham on Happy Days. When Moran went to audition for the role of Michael, he met for an interview with Carpenter and Yablans. He later got a call back and was told he had got the part.[71] Moran was paid $250 for his appearance. Will Sandin played the unmasked young Michael in the beginning of the film. Carpenter also provided uncredited voice work as Paul, Annie's boyfriend. Filming Akkad agreed to put up $300,000 ($1.4 million in 2022) for the film's budget, which was considered low at the time (Carpenter's previous film, Assault on Precinct 13, had an estimated budget of $100,000).[72][32] Akkad worried over the tight, four-week schedule, low budget, and Carpenter's limited experience as a filmmaker, but told Fangoria: "Two things made me decide. One, Carpenter told me the story verbally and in a suspenseful way, almost frame for frame. Second, he told me he didn't want to take any fees, and that showed he had confidence in the project". Carpenter received $10,000 for directing, writing, and composing the music, retaining rights to 10 percent of the film's profits.[73] Man with slicked hair, staring into camera Production designer Tommy Lee Wallace used a mask modeled after Captain Kirk from the Star Trek series (pictured), making various modifications such as painting it white, widening its eyes, and altering its hair Because of the low budget, wardrobe and props were often crafted from items on hand or that could be purchased inexpensively. Carpenter hired Tommy Lee Wallace as production designer, art director, location scout and co-editor.[74] Wallace created the trademark mask worn by Michael Myers throughout the film from a Captain Kirk mask[75] purchased for $1.98 from a costume shop on Hollywood Boulevard.[32][76] Carpenter recalled how Wallace "widened the eye holes and spray-painted the flesh a bluish white. In the script it said Michael Myers's mask had 'the pale features of a human face' and it truly was spooky looking. I can only imagine the result if they hadn't painted the mask white. Children would be checking their closet for William Shatner after Tommy got through with it."[32] Hill adds that the "idea was to make him almost humorless, faceless—this sort of pale visage that could resemble a human or not."[32] Many of the actors wore their own clothes, and Curtis' wardrobe was purchased at J.C. Penney for around $100.[32] Wallace described the filming process as uniquely collaborative, with cast members often helping move equipment, cameras, and helping facilitate set-ups.[77] The vehicle stolen by Michael Myers from Dr Loomis and Nurse Marion Chambers at the Smith Grove Sanitarium was an Illinois government-owned 1978 Ford LTD station wagon rented for two weeks of filming. When filming was complete, the car was returned to the rental company who put it up for auction. Its next owner left it in a barn for decades until selling it to its new owner who has completely restored both its interior and exterior.[78] Halloween was filmed in 20 days over a four-week period in May 1978.[79][80] Much of the filming was completed using a Panaglide, a clone of the Steadicam, the then-new camera that allowed the filmmakers to move around spaces smoothly.[81] Filming locations included South Pasadena, California; Garfield Elementary School in Alhambra, California; and the cemetery at Sierra Madre, California. An abandoned house owned by a church stood in as the Myers house. Two homes on Orange Grove Avenue (near Sunset Boulevard) in the Spaulding Square neighborhood of Hollywood were used for the film's climax, as the street had few palm trees, and thus closely resembled a Midwestern street.[82] Some palm trees, however, are visible in the film's earlier establishing scenes.[83] The crew had difficulty finding pumpkins in the spring, and artificial fall leaves had to be reused for multiple scenes.[84] Local families dressed their children in Halloween costumes for trick-or-treat scenes.[32] Carpenter worked with the cast to create the desired effect of terror and suspense. According to Curtis, Carpenter created a "fear meter" because the film was shot out-of-sequence and she was not sure what her character's level of terror should be in certain scenes. "Here's about a 7, here's about a 6, and the scene we're going to shoot tonight is about a 91/2", remembered Curtis. She had different facial expressions and scream volumes for each level on the meter.[32] Carpenter's direction for Castle in his role as Myers was minimal.[85] For example, when Castle asked what Myers' motivation was for a particular scene, Carpenter replied that his motivation was to walk from one set marker to another and "not act."[86] By Carpenter's account the only direction he gave Castle was during the murder sequence of Bob, in which he told Castle to tilt his head and examine the corpse as if it "were a butterfly collection."[87] Musical score Main article: Halloween (soundtrack) Carpenter did the score as he was told that the film "wasn't scary" after doing a test screening.[88] Instead of utilizing a more traditional symphonic soundtrack, the film's score consists primarily of a piano melody played in a 10/8 or "complex 5/4" time signature, composed and performed by Carpenter.[39][89] It took him three days to compose and record the entire score for the film. Following the film's critical and commercial success, the "Halloween Theme" became recognizable apart from the film.[90] Carpenter said it was also done in a hour.[91] Critic James Berardinelli calls the score "relatively simple and unsophisticated", but admits that "Halloween's music is one of its strongest assets".[92] Carpenter once stated in an interview, "I can play just about any keyboard, but I can't read or write a note."[93] In Halloween's end credits, Carpenter bills himself as the "Bowling Green Philharmonic Orchestra", but he also received assistance from composer Dan Wyman, a music professor at San José State University.[32][94] Some non-score songs can be heard in the film, one an untitled song performed by Carpenter and a group of his friends in a band called The Coupe De Villes. The song can be heard as Laurie steps into Annie's car on her way to babysit Tommy Doyle.[32] Another song, "(Don't Fear) The Reaper" by classic rock band Blue Öyster Cult, also appears in the film.[95] It plays on the car radio as Annie drives Laurie through Haddonfield with Myers in silent pursuit. The soundtrack was first released in the United States in October 1983, by Varèse Sarabande/MCA.[citation needed] It was subsequently released on CD in 1985, re-released in 1990, and reissued again in 2000.[citation needed] On the film's 40th anniversary, coinciding with the release of Anthology: Movie Themes 1974–1998, a cover of the theme by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross was released....Sequels and remake Main article: Halloween (franchise) Halloween spawned nine sequels, an unrelated spin-off film and two films in a remake series. Of the subsequent films, only the first sequel was written by Carpenter and Hill. It begins exactly where Halloween ends and was intended to finish the story of Michael Myers and Laurie Strode. Carpenter did not direct any of the subsequent films in the Halloween series, although he did produce Halloween III: Season of the Witch, the plot of which is unrelated to the other films in the series due to the absence of Michael Myers.[162] He, along with Alan Howarth, also composed the music for the second and third films. After the negative critical and commercial reception for Season of the Witch, the studio brought back Michael Myers in Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers.[163] Financier Moustapha Akkad continued to work closely with the Halloween franchise, acting as executive producer of every sequel until his death in the 2005 Amman bombings.[164] With the exception of Halloween III, the sequels further develop the character of Michael Myers and the Samhain theme. Even without considering the third film, the Halloween series contains continuity issues, which some sources attribute to the different writers and directors involved in each film.[165] A remake was released in 2007, and was followed by a 2009 sequel.[166] An eleventh installment was released in 2018, as a direct sequel to the original film, disregarding the previous sequels, and retconning the ending of the first film.[167] It was followed by two direct sequels: Halloween Kills (2021) and Halloween Ends (2022)." (wikipedia.org) "Halloween is a 2007 American slasher film written, directed, and produced by Rob Zombie. It is a remake of John Carpenter's 1978 film of the same name and the ninth installment in the Halloween franchise. The film stars Malcolm McDowell, Sheri Moon Zombie, Tyler Mane, Scout Taylor-Compton, Brad Dourif, Danielle Harris, and William Forsythe. The "reimagining" follows Michael Myers who murdered his family as a child and becomes institutionalized at an asylum, before breaking out and stalking Laurie Strode and her friends on Halloween night. Working from Carpenter's advice to "make [the film] his own",[5] Zombie chose to develop the film as both an origin story and a remake, allowing for more original content than simply re-filming the same scenes. Halloween was released in the United States on August 31, 2007, by the Weinstein Company, under their Dimension Films banner, and MGM Distribution Co.. The film received generally negative reviews from critics, but grossed over $80 million worldwide against a production budget of $15 million. A sequel, Halloween II, was released in 2009. Plot On Halloween in Haddonfield, Illinois, having already exhibited signs of psychopathic tendencies, ten-year-old Michael Myers murders school bully Wesley Rhoades, his older sister Judith, her boyfriend Steve Haley, and his mother's abusive boyfriend Ronnie White out of revenge. He only spares his infant sister, Angel. After one of the longest trials in the state's history, Michael is found guilty of first-degree murder and sent to Smith's Grove Sanitarium under the care of child psychologist Dr. Samuel Loomis. Michael initially cooperates with Loomis, and his mother Deborah, who he dearly loves the most, visits him regularly. Over the following year, Michael becomes dissociative, fixating on papier-mâché masks and withdrawing from the people around him, even his mother. When Michael kills a nurse as Deborah is leaving from one of her visits, she is unable to handle the situation and commits suicide. For the next 15 years, Michael continues making his masks and not speaking to people. Loomis, having continued to treat Michael over the years, attempts to move forward with his life and closes Michael's case. Later, Michael escapes from Smith's Grove, killing the guards and hospital staff in the process. He then kills a truck driver for his clothes and makes his way back to Haddonfield. On Halloween, Michael arrives at his now-abandoned childhood home, where he recovers the kitchen knife and Halloween mask he stored under the floorboards the night he killed his sister. Laurie Strode and her acquaintances Annie Brackett and Lynda Van Der Klok prepare for Halloween. Throughout the day, Laurie witnesses Michael watching her from a distance. Later that night, Lynda meets up with her boyfriend Bob Simms at Michael's abandoned home. Michael appears, murders them, and then heads to the Strode home. There, while Laurie is babysitting Tommy Doyle, he murders her parents, Mason and Cynthia. Dr. Loomis, having been alerted of Michael's escape, arrives in Haddonfield looking for Michael. After obtaining a handgun, Loomis attempts to warn Sheriff Leigh Brackett that Michael has returned to Haddonfield. Loomis and Brackett head to the Strode home, with Brackett explaining along the way that Laurie is really Michael's baby sister, having been adopted by the Strodes following their mother's suicide. After convincing Laurie to babysit Lindsey Wallace while spending time with her boyfriend Paul, Annie is attacked by Michael after he kills Paul at the Wallace residence. Bringing Lindsey home, Laurie finds Annie badly injured on the floor but still alive and calls for help. Michael attacks Laurie and chases her back to the Doyle residence. Loomis and Brackett hear the call over the radio and head toward the Wallace residence. Michael kidnaps Laurie and takes her back to their old home. He tries to show Laurie that she is his sister, presenting a picture of them with their mother. Unable to understand, Laurie stabs Michael before escaping the house. Michael chases after her, but Loomis arrives and shoots him three times. Recovering, Michael recaptures Laurie and heads back to the house. Loomis intervenes, but Michael subdues him by gouging at his eyes. Laurie takes the gun and runs upstairs, but Michael corners her on a balcony and charges her head-on, knocking both of them over the railing. Laurie awakens on top of an unconscious Michael. Laurie aims the gun at Michael, with Michael's hand grabbing her wrist just as the gun is fired. Cast     Malcolm McDowell as Dr. Samuel Loomis     Brad Dourif as Sheriff Leigh Brackett     Tyler Mane as Michael Myers         Daeg Faerch as Michael Myers (age 10)     Sheri Moon Zombie as Deborah Myers     William Forsythe as Ronnie White     Richard Lynch as Principal Chambers     Udo Kier as Morgan Walker     Clint Howard as Doctor Koplensen     Danny Trejo as Ismael Cruz     Lew Temple as Noel Kluggs     Tom Towles as Larry Redgrave     Bill Moseley as Zach "Z-Man" Garrett     Leslie Easterbrook as Patty Frost     Steve Boyles as Stan Payne     Scout Taylor-Compton as Laurie Strode / Angel Myers         Sydnie and Myla Pitzer, Lela Altman as Angel "Baby Boo" Myers     Danielle Harris as Annie Brackett     Skyler Gisondo as Tommy Doyle     Jenny Gregg Stewart as Lindsey Wallace     Hanna Hall as Judith Myers     Kristina Klebe as Lynda Van Der Klok     Adam Weisman as Steve Haley     Dee Wallace as Cynthia Strode     Max Van Ville as Paul     Nick Mennell as Bob Simms     Pat Skipper as Mason Strode     Daryl Sabara as Wesley Rhoades     Richmond Arquette as Deputy Charles     Ken Foree as Big Joe Grizzly     Paul Kampf as Officer Lowery     Sybil Danning as Nurse Wynn     Micky Dolenz as Derek Allen     Daniel Roebuck as Lou Martini     Mel Fair as Taylor Madison     Sid Haig as Chester Chesterfield     Adrienne Barbeau as Adoption Agency Secretary Production After the release of Halloween: Resurrection (2002), there were various ideas on how to proceed with a ninth installment. After the release of Freddy vs. Jason in 2003, Dimension Films attempted to produce a crossover with the Hellraiser franchise featuring Pinhead and the Cenobites. One of the pitches involved a young Michael Myers opening the Lament Configuration and being possessed with Samhain fleeing from Hell, providing the source of his murderousness and invincibility; the remainder of the film would have involved the Cenobites pursuing him.[6] An earlier pitch from the late 90s from Dave Parker was rejected by Dimension, as they believed Freddy vs. Jason would bomb at the box office.[7][8] According to Doug Bradley, Clive Barker agreed to write a script while John Carpenter was being considered to direct.[9] Bradley said that Barker "wasn't interested in a mano-a-mano confrontation. He was interested in finding the places where the Hellraiser and Halloween landscapes might have crossed over" and that he envisioned Michael Myers as "a sadomasochistic sexual pervert and serial killer which would be enough to pique Pinhead's interest."[10] The project was ultimately cancelled after 52 percent of respondents to an online poll disapproved of the project and Moustapha Akkad was not interested.[6] Akkad continued to try to develop a sequel. Josh Stolberg, who also unsuccessfully proposed a Hellraiser crossover with Bobby Florsheim, pitched Halloween: Bad Blood, which would have brought back Jamie Lloyd.[11] A 2004 script from screenwriting duo Jim Keeble and Dudi Appleton, titled Halloween: Retribution, would have begun with Michael killing Busta Rhymes's character Freddie Harris and involved Laurie Strode's son John Tate and Sheriff Leigh Brackett plotting to kill Michael Myers in revenge for her death in the previous film; the film would have ended with Tate drowning Michael in a frozen lake but implying that he would take his place as a murderous killer.[12][13] Also in 2004, a script from Matt Veene, entitled Halloween: Asylum, had Michael Myers breaking free from death row.[7][11] Another prospective screenplay written by Jake Wade Wall was Halloween: The Missing Years, which would have been a prequel centered around Michael Myers returning to Smith's Grove Sanitarium in the early 1980s during the events of Halloween III: Season of the Witch (1982), with flashbacks revealing details about his childhood at the asylum after murdering his sister in the 1960s.[14][15] At the same time Moustapha Akkad and his son Malek were working on a story revolving around Dr. Wynn from Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers (1995). Development on a direct sequel suddenly halted when Moustapha Akkad was killed in the 2005 Amman hotel bombings while attending a wedding in Jordan, and his son Malek decided to take the series in a different direction.[16][17] On June 4, 2006, Dimension Films announced that Rob Zombie would be creating the next installment in the Halloween film series.[18] The plan was for Zombie to hold many positions in the production; he would write, direct, produce, and serve as music supervisor.[18] Bob Weinstein approached him about making the film. Zombie, who was a fan of the original Halloween, jumped at the chance to make a Halloween film for Dimension Studios.[18] Before Dimension went public with the news, Zombie felt obligated to inform Carpenter, out of respect, of the plans to remake his film.[19] Carpenter's request was for Zombie to "make it his own".[5] During a June 16, 2006, interview, Zombie announced that his film would combine the elements of prequel and remake with the original concept, and insisted that there would be considerable original content in the new film as opposed to mere rehashed material.[20] The BBC reported that the new film would disregard the numerous sequels that followed Halloween.[21] The Myers house film location early March 2007 on Glendon Way in South Pasadena, California. Zombie's intention was to reinvent Michael Myers because he felt the character, along with Freddy Krueger, Jason Voorhees, and Pinhead, had become more familiar to audiences, and as a result, less scary.[21][22] The idea behind the new film was to delve deeper into Michael's backstory and add "new life" to the character.[20] Michael's mask would be given its own story to provide an explanation as to why he wears it, instead of having the character simply steal a random mask from a hardware store as in the original film.[23] Zombie explained that he wanted Michael to be true to what a psychopath really is, and wanted the mask to be a way for Michael to hide. He also wanted the young Michael to have charisma, which would be projected onto the adult Michael. In addition, he decided that Michael's motives for returning to Haddonfield would be more ambiguous, explaining, "[W]as he trying to kill Laurie, or just find her because he loves her?"[19] Michael speaks as a child during the beginning of the film, but while in Smith's Grove he stops talking completely. Zombie originally planned to have the adult Michael speak to Laurie in the film's finale, simply saying his childhood nickname for her, "Boo". Zombie explained that this version was not used because he was afraid having the character talk at that point would demystify him too much, and because the act of Michael handing Laurie the photograph of them together was enough.[24] Moreover, Michael would not be able to drive in the new film, unlike his 1978 counterpart who stole Loomis' car so that he could drive back to Haddonfield.[23] The Dr. Loomis character was also to be more intertwined with that of Michael; Zombie reasoned that the character's role in the original was "showing up merely to say something dramatic".[22] Although Zombie added more history to the Michael Myers character, hence creating more original content for the film, he chose to keep the character's trademark mask and Carpenter's theme song intact for his version (despite an apparent misinterpretation in an interview suggesting the theme would be ditched).[20] Production officially began on January 29, 2007.[25] Shortly before production began, Zombie reported that he had seen the first production of Michael's signature mask and commented, "It looks perfect, exactly like the original. Not since 1978 has The Shape looked so good".[26] Filming occurred in the same neighborhood that Carpenter used for the original Halloween.[23] On December 19, 2006, Zombie announced to Bloody Disgusting that Daeg Faerch would play the part of ten-year-old Michael Myers.[27] On December 22, 2006, Malcolm McDowell was officially announced to be playing Dr. Loomis.[28] McDowell stated that he wanted a tremendous ego in Loomis, who is out to get a new book from the ordeal.[23] On December 24, 2006, Zombie announced that Tyler Mane, who had previously worked with Zombie on The Devil's Rejects (2005), would portray the adult Michael Myers.[29] Mane stated that it was very difficult to act only with his eyes.[30] After winning the role, he noted that he consecutively watched seven of the eight Halloween films (excluding the third because Michael Myers does not appear) to better understand his character.[31] Scout Taylor-Compton endured a long audition process, but as director Zombie explains, "Scout was my first choice. There was just something about her; she had a genuine quality. She didn't seem actor-y."[32] She was one of the final people to be cast for a lead role after Faerch, Mane, McDowell, Forsythe, and Harris. Heather Bowen, a fan who won a contest for a walk-on cameo appearance in 2005 when it was still intended to be a sequel, played a news reporter who covered Michael's arrest, but her scene was cut from the film and does not appear in the deleted scenes.[33][34] In the film's original ending, Loomis is successful in convincing Michael to let go of Laurie as he is surrounded by police officers, telling Michael he "did the right thing". Despite Loomis' protests, however, Michael is killed shortly afterwards in a hail of gunfire, and the film ends with Loomis looking down sadly at his former patient's corpse." (wikipedia.org) "Halloween is a 2018 American slasher film directed by David Gordon Green and co-written by Green, Jeff Fradley and Danny McBride. It is the eleventh installment in the Halloween film series and a direct sequel to the 1978 film of the same name, while disregarding all previous sequels.[4] The film stars Jamie Lee Curtis who reprises her role as Laurie Strode. James Jude Courtney portrays Michael Myers, with Nick Castle returning to the role for a cameo. Halloween also stars Judy Greer, Andi Matichak, Will Patton, Haluk Bilginer, and Virginia Gardner. Its plot follows a post-traumatic Laurie Strode who prepares to face Michael Myers in a final showdown on Halloween night, forty years after she survived his killing spree. After the release of Rob Zombie's Halloween II, the 2009 sequel to the 2007 remake of the original, two consecutive follow-ups went into development from former rights holder Dimension Films, respectively, but neither came to fruition. As a result, the studio lost the rights to the intellectual property, which were later obtained by Blumhouse Productions with John Carpenter's involvement. Carpenter, who disagreed with the remake's portrayal of lead killer Michael Myers, planned on helping the studio to make the next Halloween film into what he believed to be more terrifying than the preceding sequels. Filmmakers David Gordon Green and Danny McBride, who were already fans, proposed their vision to Blumhouse and Carpenter. It was accepted and developed into a sequel to the original. Halloween was filmed from January to February 2018 in Charleston, South Carolina, before reshoots took place that June. The film premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival on September 8, 2018. It was theatrically released in North America on October 19, 2018, by Universal Pictures. The film received generally positive reviews from critics with praise for Curtis' performance, Green's direction, scares, and tone, with many deeming it the best Halloween film since the original. It was a box office success grossing over $259 million worldwide; it is the highest-grossing slasher film in unadjusted dollars, breaking a record that Scream had previously set in 1996 as well as setting several other box-office records. The film was followed by two sequels: Halloween Kills (2021) and Halloween Ends (2022). Plot On October 29, 2018, infamous serial killer Michael Myers, who has been institutionalized at Smith's Grove Psychiatric Hospital for 40 years following his killing spree in Haddonfield, is being prepared for transfer to a maximum-security prison. True crime podcasters Aaron Korey and Dana Haines visit the hospital, where Aaron displays Michael's mask to him, to no effect. In Haddonfield, Laurie Strode still lives in fear of him, drinking heavily and rarely leaving her heavily-fortified house. She has a strained relationship with her daughter Karen, whom the state took away from her when Karen was 12. Allyson, Laurie's granddaughter, tries to maintain a relationship with her grandmother. The night of October 30, as Michael is being transferred, the bus crashes and Michael escapes after murdering two people and stealing their truck. On the morning of October 31, Michael sees Aaron and Dana visiting his sister Judith's grave. He kills them both, as well as a mechanic for his coveralls, before recovering his mask from Aaron's car. Laurie learns of Michael's escape and attempts to warn Karen, but Karen dismisses her concerns, urging Laurie to move on. That night, Allyson finds her boyfriend, Cameron, cheating on her at a party and leaves with his friend Oscar. Allyson's best friend Vicky and her boyfriend Dave are both killed by Michael. Deputy Frank Hawkins, who arrested Michael in 1978, and Laurie overhear the incident on radio and go over to the house. Laurie sees Michael for the first time in 40 years, and shoots him before he flees. The police take Laurie, Karen, and her husband Ray to Laurie's home for protection. Dr. Ranbir Sartain, Michael's psychiatrist and former student of Dr. Samuel Loomis, persuades Sheriff Barker to help in the hunt for Michael. Michael kills Oscar, but Hawkins and Sartain rescue Allyson. Deputy Hawkins tries to kill Michael, but Dr. Sartain—who has become obsessed with Michael—attacks and leaves Hawkins for dead. It is revealed that he orchestrated Michael's escape to study him "in the wild". Dr. Sartain heads toward Laurie's home with an unconscious Michael and Allyson locked in the backseat together. Michael wakes up and kills Sartain while Allyson flees. Michael then kills the two police officers stationed outside Laurie's home, and strangles Ray to death. In his showdown with Laurie, he stabs her and pushes her over a balcony. When he goes to check her body, he finds it missing, reminiscent of their first encounter decades earlier. Karen shoots him in the jaw before Laurie traps him inside the safe room with Karen and Allyson's help. The trio sets the house ablaze, and Laurie says goodbye to Michael before she faints. As her family takes her to the hospital, a final shot of the burning basement is shown, with Michael nowhere in sight. In a post-credits scene, Michael's breathing is heard, indicating that he has survived.[a] Cast Main article: List of Halloween characters     Jamie Lee Curtis as Laurie Strode, the sole survivor of Michael Myers' 1978 killing spree, suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder     Judy Greer as Karen Nelson (née Strode), Laurie's estranged daughter         Sophia Miller as young Karen     Andi Matichak as Allyson Nelson, Karen's daughter and Laurie's granddaughter     James Jude Courtney as Michael Myers / The Shape, the masked figure who carried out a horrific massacre on Halloween in 1978, and returns to Haddonfield for another killing spree         Nick Castle as Michael Myers (window scene and breathing sounds)     Haluk Bilginer as Dr. Ranbir Sartain, Michael's psychiatrist and Samuel Loomis's former student     Will Patton as Deputy Frank Hawkins, a sheriff's deputy who teams up with Laurie in an effort to kill Michael and had arrested Michael after his killing spree in 1978     Rhian Rees as Dana Haines, a true-crime podcaster and Aaron's partner     Jefferson Hall as Aaron Korey, a true-crime podcaster and Dana's partner     Toby Huss as Ray Nelson, Karen's husband, Allyson's father and Laurie's son-in-law     Virginia Gardner as Vicky, Allyson's best friend     Dylan Arnold as Cameron Elam, Allyson's boyfriend and son of Lonnie Elam     Miles Robbins as Dave, Vicky's boyfriend     Drew Scheid as Oscar, Cameron's best friend     Jibrail Nantambu as Julian Morrisey, a little boy whom Vicky babysits     Michael Harrity as Warden Kuneman     Omar Dorsey as Sheriff Barker, Haddonfield's sheriff     Charlie Benton as Officer Richards     Christopher Allen Nelson as Officer Francis In addition, P. J. Soles, who played Lynda Van Der Klok in the original 1978 film, has an off-screen voice cameo as Allyson's English teacher, Mrs. Van Der Klok.[5] Production Development Producer Jason Blum After directing the 2007 Halloween reboot, Rob Zombie was hesitant to return for Halloween II and announced that he would not return to direct another sequel while promoting it in an interview on MTV.[6][7] Nevertheless, two days after its release, The Weinstein Company announced that a sequel entitled Halloween 3D would be released in the summer of 2010.[8] Patrick Lussier and Todd Farmer were hired as the film's director and writer and the studio planned for filming to begin in Shreveport, Louisiana, in November 2009.[9] The film was to pick up where the final frame of its 2009 predecessor left off, and would pay homage to the original version of Michael Myers from the 1978 film.[10] It would have involved Laurie Strode being committed to a psychiatric hospital after murdering Dr. Loomis and Sherriff Brackett and Michael tracking her down there one year later.[11] Tyler Mane would have reprised his role as Michael Myers from the first two films and Tom Atkins would have been cast as a psychiatrist, but Scout Taylor-Compton did not plan on returning as Laurie Strode.[11] After disagreements over the budget and concerns that the film was being made too quickly, Bob Weinstein delayed pre-production until after Lussier and Farmer finished their work on Drive Angry.[9][11] In June 2011, development resumed with a planned release date of October 26, 2012, but was again delayed when Lussier, Farmer and Weinstein decided to prioritize an abortive Hellraiser reboot.[11][12] In 2012, Siren screenwriters Ben Collins and Luke Piotrowski pitched their take on a reboot of the series, simply entitled Halloween.[13] By 2013, Josh Stolberg was tasked with revising a 2004 draft for Halloween: Asylum, previously written by Mirrors 2 scribe Matt Veene. According to Stolberg, the script was a direct continuation of Halloween: Resurrection, and featured Myers breaking free from death row.[14] In May 2014 development on Halloween 3D was revived for one final time with Taylor-Compton agreeing to appear in the film.[15] As a result of the profitability of the Paranormal Activity franchise in the 2010s, Weinstein insisted on making Halloween 3D a found footage film, and Farmer pitched a mockumentary about a series of murders by a deranged fan taking place during the making of an in-universe film based on Lussier and Farmer's original script.[11] According to Farmer and Taylor-Compton, none of the cast and crew involved liked the concept, and the film was ultimately scrapped.[11][16] In February 2015, Patrick Melton and Marcus Dunstan were reported as writing a new Halloween film, described as a "recalibration" rather than a reboot, which Malek Akkad and Matt Stein were producing.[17] On June 15, 2015, The Weinstein Company was reported to be moving ahead with another Halloween sequel, tentatively titled Halloween Returns, with Dunstan directing. It would have been a standalone film set to reintroduce audiences to Michael Myers years after his initial rampage from Halloween and 1981's Halloween II, as he was confronted by a new generation of victims while on death row.[18][19] The film would have been set in 1988 and involved Michael Myers escaping his execution from a power surge and going on a rampage in the town of Russellville, Illinois.[20] On October 22, 2015, producer Malek Akkad revealed that the production of Halloween Returns had been postponed, citing "issues with studios and different variables", and stating that the extra time would result in a better film.[21][22] Akkad later revealed that he had postponed production because the studio insisted on shooting the film in Serbia, which he believed would be a poor fit for Haddonfield.[23] In December 2015, it was announced that Dimension Films no longer had the filming rights to Halloween, after Halloween Returns failed to go into production on schedule.[24] The film's cancellation was confirmed at the same time.[25] The rights then reverted to Miramax.[26] On May 24, 2016, Blumhouse Productions and Miramax were announced to be co-financing a new film, with Universal Pictures distributing through the studio's output deal with Blumhouse. Blumhouse CEO Jason Blum called the original Halloween a milestone that had influenced the company to begin making horror films, "The great Malek Akkad and John Carpenter have a special place in the hearts of all genre fans and we are so excited that Miramax brought us together".[27] The rights specifically went to Miramax and Tarik Akkad, who sought out Blum because of his success as a horror film producer.[28] That same month, Mike Flanagan was being courted to direct the film with a set release date for 2017.[29][30] Flanagan would ultimately pass on the offer and likened his pitch to his own film Hush.[31] Writing and pre-production Director and co-writer David Gordon Green When John Carpenter, who had co-written the first two Halloween films with Debra Hill and directed the original, signed on as an executive producer in 2016, he described his intention: "Thirty-eight years after the original Halloween, I'm going to help to try to make the 10th sequel the scariest of them all."[32] He discussed his reasoning for revisiting the series for the first time since producing 1982's Halloween III: Season of the Witch in an interview with Rotten Tomatoes, "I talked about the Halloweens for a long time, the sequels — I haven't even seen all of them [...] But finally it occurred to me: Well if I'm just flapping my gums here, why don't I try to make it as good as I can? So, you know, stop throwing rocks from the sidelines and get in there and try to do something positive."[33] When the rights were acquired by Blumhouse, filmmaker Adam Wingard discussed making a new Halloween film, but ultimately dropped out after being sated by an email of encouragement from Carpenter, "I kinda walked away from it like, I just got everything I wanted out of this job. 'This is about as good as it gets.'"[34] On February 9, 2017, David Gordon Green and Danny McBride were announced as handling screenwriting duties, with Green directing and Carpenter advising the project.[35] Carpenter said that he was impressed with the pitch presented by the co-writers, solicited by Jason Blum, proclaiming that "They get it."[36] Green and McBride brought along their UNCSA colleague Jeff Fradley to co-write the script alongside them.[37] Rather than reboot the series again, they initially chose to focus primarily on continuing the mythology of the first two films when developing the story,[38] with Danny McBride stating, "We all came to the decision that remaking something that already works isn't a good idea. So we just have a reimagining instead."[39] The pitch was created by the writers specifically to present to Carpenter, as they were self-described fans of the original Halloween. The story was eventually fleshed out so that all of the sequels were ignored from the new film's continuity, and the ending of the first film was retconned in what McBride likened to an alternate reality.[40] However, he later said that the film still pays tribute to the other follow-ups, despite sharing no direct continuity, "you know like there's so many different versions, and the timeline is so mixed up, we just thought it would be easier to go back to the source and continue from there. It was nicer than knowing you're working on Halloween 11, it just seemed cooler, 'we're making Halloween 2'. For fans, we pay homage and respect to every Halloween that has been out there."[41] Despite Green and McBride's comedy roots, Halloween was distanced from the comedy genre. McBride further elaborated that "I think there was, like, maybe one joke on the page, but the rest is straight horror."[4] Believing that "good horror movie directors are good directors", Jason Blum hired Green for his perceived "amazing" storytelling. No major steps were taken without Carpenter's approval, including the acceptance of the initial pitch and bringing back actress Jamie Lee Curtis.[42] Displeased with Rob Zombie's re-imagining and added backstory of murderer Michael Myers, Carpenter wanted to take the character back to his more mysterious roots, describing him as "a force of nature. He's supposed to be almost supernatural."[43] McBride detailed his approach as humanizing the character, "I think we're just trying to take it back to what was so good about the original. It was just very simple and just achieved that level of horror that wasn't turning Michael Myers into some being that couldn't be killed. I want to be scared by something that I really think could happen. I think it's much more horrifying to be scared by someone standing in the shadows while you're taking the trash out."[44] Early on, the script for the film had Laurie's daughter Jamie Lloyd from the original continuity's Halloween 4 and Halloween 5 appear alongside Laurie for the first time. However, subsequent rewrites changed her to 'Karen'.[45] Even before those early plans were publicly known, Danielle Harris, who played Jamie, objected, feeling strongly about Laurie having a daughter that was not Jamie, but her appeals to the production company were dismissed.[46] Another early draft included a reimagining of the original film's ending where Laurie shoots The Shape off the balcony after he murders Loomis. However, Green would ultimately back down from the decision.[47][48] Altogether, the writing team wrote eighty drafts of the script over the span of eight months, with rewrites taking place up until the last week of filming.[49] Casting Jamie Lee Curtis reprises her role as Laurie Strode. In September 2017, Jamie Lee Curtis confirmed that she would reprise her role as Laurie Strode.[50][51] In contrast to the character's final girl role in the original film, Laurie armed herself and prepared extensively in the time period between films in case Michael Myers returned.[52] Although Halloween II and its later installments have portrayed Myers as a familicidal killer and Laurie as his sister, the writers felt that the added motive made him less frightening as a killer. As such, they intentionally ignored that aspect of the lore.[53] In the film, Laurie's granddaughter Allyson explains how her life has been impacted by Michael's homicidal rampage 40 years earlier. When a friend hints that he had heard Michael was Laurie's brother, Allyson replies, "No, it was not her brother. That was something people made up."[54] The writers did not originally know if Curtis would be willing to return, according to McBride, so they "busted [their] ass on this script to really make that Laurie Strode character something she wouldn't be able to say no to."[4] On why she returned, Curtis stated, "As soon as I read what David Green and Danny McBride had come up with [...] and the way that they connected the dots of the story, it made so much sense to me that it felt totally appropriate for me to return to Haddonfield, Ill., for another 40th-anniversary retelling. It's the original story in many, many, many ways. Just retold 40 years later with my granddaughter."[55] Curtis had previously returned as Laurie in the sequels Halloween II (1981), Halloween H20: 20 Years Later (1998), and Halloween: Resurrection (2002). The following October, Judy Greer entered negotiations to play Laurie's daughter, Karen Nelson.[56] On December 7, 2017, Andi Matichak was cast to play Laurie's granddaughter Allyson.[57] Danielle Harris, who played Jamie Lloyd in the original continuity's Halloween 4 and Halloween 5, contacted Blumhouse with the offer to reprise her role in some way, but the studio went with a different daughter character. Harris and certain horror publications expressed their disappointment: "I was okay with it when she had a son [...] but they're saying it's the last one and [...] she has a daughter. And it's not Jamie. It's just kind of a bummer, I guess."[58][59][60][61][62] Nick Castle reprises his role as Michael Myers for the first time in forty years. On December 20, 2017, it was announced that Nick Castle, who had portrayed Michael Myers in the original film, would reprise his role, with actor and stuntman James Jude Courtney set to portray Myers as well.[63][64][65] Courtney was suggested to Malek Akkad and David Gordon Green by stunt coordinator Rawn Hutchinson for his ability to do both physical stunts and genuine acting, auditioning afterwards and receiving a phone call in December 2017 affirming that he had landed the role. Green explained to him his vision for Myers's mannerisms, an amalgamation of Castle's original performance and the addition of an efficient cat-like style of movement. Courtney tailored his portrayal to those specifications from observing an actual cat, "I think cats are the most perfect hunting machines on the planet. And the beauty of it is we don't judge a cat for what a cat does. So I sort of carried that movement and the non-judgmental approach to the way I moved as The Shape, which I learned from my cat Parcival." He referred to collaborating with Castle as an "honor", while Castle described it as a "passing of the torch". Courtney used John Carpenter and Castle's work on the original film to determine how the 40 years that transpired between the events of the films would inform the character over time.[66] The December 2017 announcement of Castle's participation was widely reported as his retaking the role of Myers he originated, with Courtney only doing additional work as the character.[67] On January 13, 2018, Virginia Gardner, Miles Robbins, Dylan Arnold and Drew Scheid were confirmed to play Allyson's friends.[65][68] On January 16, 2018, Will Patton was publicized to have joined the film's roster.[69] He was later joined by Rob Niter, both actors being announced to portray police officers, as well as British actress Rhian Rees, who was cast as a character named Dana.[70] Speaking of the cast, Castle stated that "What I like about this (new film) is they've got some really good young actors. They fleshed out the relationship of Jamie's character with her daughter and her granddaughter. And they made some choices that I think are really bold choices about who these people are and why they are the way they are now."[71] On July 27, 2018, it was announced that a sound-alike actor would provide a voice-over for Dr. Sam Loomis, who was originally portrayed by Donald Pleasence in the original film, Halloween II, Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers (1988), Halloween 5: The Revenge of Michael Myers (1989), Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers (1995), before his death in 1995.[72] In the film, the voice of Dr. Loomis is heard giving advice that Michael be executed, claiming that Michael needed to be killed because there was no point in keeping evil alive. Loomis is featured in a vocal cameo when Aaron and Dana listen to a recording of Loomis, made three months after the events of the original film. Loomis is voiced by sound-alike stand-up comedian Colin Mahan, who was used to do Donald Pleasence impressions; Mahan was hired after one of the film's executive producers heard him by chance and suggested him for the part. At Carpenter's suggestion, Green, McBride and Fradley initially wrote some drafts where Loomis was more involved in the story, appearing onscreen at the beginning of the film, with the trio devising to cast their art director Sean White as Loomis due to his look-alike resemblance to Pleasence, but the idea went unused;[73] although the sequel, Halloween Kills (2021), ended up incorporating this, but with Tom Jones Jr. instead for that film’s 1978 flashbacks. Additionally, P. J. Soles, who had portrayed Lynda van der Klok, Michael's final victim in the original film, was cast in a spoken cameo role as a teacher.[74] Filming Principal production was originally set to start in late October 2017. It got delayed until January 13, 2018 and began in Charleston, South Carolina.[75][76][77] Michael Simmonds served cinematography duties, with Paul Daley and Stewart Cantrell operating the camera.[66] According to Danny McBride, the horror of the film aims to create a sense of tension and dread to the audience rather than relying on graphic violence;[78] the make-up and visual effects were provided by Christopher Nelson.[63] Jamie Lee Curtis finished her scenes on February 16, 2018,[79] with the remaining principal photography concluding on February 19, 2018.[80][81] Response to the film's first test screening led the filmmakers to schedule reshoots beginning June 11, 2018. Filming once again took place in Charleston.[82] Courtney had a week of rehearsal before filming began. Nelson used a life cast of his face to construct the Michael Myers mask and other prosthetics worn by the actor.[66] The mask was weathered and aged to reflect the character's "authentic evolution" since the original.[52] Courtney was involved in every scene featuring Myers, including those of Nick Castle, who was only involved for a minimal amount of filming, which Castle described to the journalists on set as a cameo appearance: "Jim is our Michael Myers now." Castle reprises his role in one scene with Curtis, playing as the character's reflection in a window and did all of Michael Myers' breathing sounds in post-production. Castle expressed that it was the filmmakers' intention to maintain the atmosphere of the original and that, like the 1978 film, "it's very neighborhood-centric [...] There are a lot of things coinciding (in the new film) that feel like clever ways to introduce a kind of déjà vu of the first one, without feeling like it's being copied. It was the first thing out of their mouths really: 'We want to do it like John [Carpenter] did it.'"[71] Nelson accompanied Courtney throughout filming, providing him with acting advice from his own knowledge of the characters of the Halloween films.[66] Nelson had been interviewed and examined for the film by Akkad and Green after a conversation with Blumhouse producer Ryan Turek, who he was already acquainted with. Collaborating with fellow make-up effects artist Vincent Van Dyke, some of his designs and concepts were initially rejected due to legal complications, which were later straightened out as he began his work on the film. Rather than trying to copy the design of the original mask, he intended on recapturing what he described as the visual "feeling" of it. Because the film is set forty years after the events of the original, he studied the decomposition and wrinkling of forty-year-old masks over time while outlining his take on Myers's look, "You're not creating just a mask. You're creating a feeling that you get that does have an expression [...] But also the mask looks completely different in every single angle it's ever been photographed at, and I wanted that feeling too." Courtney was hired after Nelson advised Green not to cast a hulking stuntman in the role in compliance with the first film.[83][84] Music Main article: Halloween (2018 soundtrack) After previously providing the score for the original Halloween, Halloween II, and Halloween III: Season of the Witch, John Carpenter confirmed in October 2017 that he had made a deal to score the 2018 release. Regarding his take on the sequel, he said, "I'll be consulting with the director to see what he feels. I could create a new score, we could update the old score and amplify it, or we could combine those two things. I'll have to see the movie to see what it requires."[85] The album was released on October 19, 2018....equels Main articles: Halloween Kills and Halloween Ends A sequel to this film was released in 2021, titled Halloween Kills.[122] Its plot focuses on Strode and her family forming a group of attentive townspeople to fend off Myers.[123] Halloween Ends was released on October 14, 2022." (wikipedia.org) "Horror is a film genre that seeks to elicit fear or disgust in its audience for entertainment purposes.[2] Horror films often explore dark subject matter and may deal with transgressive topics or themes. Broad elements include monsters, apocalyptic events, and religious or folk beliefs. Horror films have existed for more than a century. Early inspirations from before the development of film include folklore, religious beliefs and superstitions of different cultures, and the Gothic and horror literature of authors such as Edgar Allan Poe, Bram Stoker, and Mary Shelley. From origins in silent films and German Expressionism, horror only became a codified genre after the release of Dracula (1931). Many sub-genres emerged in subsequent decades, including body horror, comedy horror, slasher films, splatter films, supernatural horror and psychological horror. The genre has been produced worldwide, varying in content and style between regions. Horror is particularly prominent in the cinema of Japan, Korea, Italy and Thailand, among other countries. Despite being the subject of social and legal controversy due to their subject matter, some horror films and franchises have seen major commercial success, influenced society and spawned several popular culture icons. Characteristics See also: Horror and terror The Dictionary of Film Studies defines the horror film as representing "disturbing and dark subject matter, seeking to elicit responses of fear, terror, disgust, shock, suspense, and, of course, horror from their viewers."[2] In the chapter "The American Nightmare: Horror in the 70s" from Hollywood from Vietnam to Reagan (2002), film critic Robin Wood declared that commonality between horror films are that "normality is threatened by the monster."[3] This was further expanded upon by The Philosophy of Horror, or Parodoxes of the Heart by Noël Carroll who added that "repulsion must be pleasurable, as evidenced by the genre's popularity."[3] Prior to the release of Dracula (1931), historian Gary Don Rhodes explained that the idea and terminology of horror film did not exist yet as a codified genre, although critics used the term "horror" to describe films in reviews prior to Dracula's release.[4] "Horror" was a term used to describe a variety of meanings. In 1913, Moving Picture World defined "horrors" as showcasing "striped convicts, murderous Indians, grinning 'black-handers', homicidal drunkards"[5] Some titles that suggest horror such as The Hand of Horror (1914) was a melodrama about a thief who steals from his own sister.[5] During the silent era, the term horror was used to describe everything from "battle scenes" in war films to tales of drug addiction.[6] Rhodes concluded that the term "horror film" or "horror movie" was not used in early cinema.[7] The mystery film genre was in vogue and early information on Dracula being promoted as mystery film was common, despite the novel, play and film's story relying on the supernatural.[8] Newman discussed the genre in British Film Institute's Companion to Horror where he noted that Horror films in the 1930s were easy to identify, but following that decade "the more blurred distinctions become, and horror becomes less like a discrete genre than an effect which can be deployed within any number of narrative settings or narratives patterns".[9] Various writings on genre from Altman, Lawrence Alloway (Violent America: The Movies 1946-1964 (1971)) and Peter Hutchings (Approaches to Popular Film (1995)) implied it easier to view films as cycles opposed to genres, suggesting the slasher film viewed as a cycle would place it in terms of how the film industry was economically and production wise, the personnel involved in their respective eras, and how the films were marketed exhibited and distributed.[10] Mark Jancovich in an essay declared that "there is no simple 'collective belief' as to what constitutes the horror genre" between both fans and critics of the genre.[11] Jancovich found that disagreements existed from audiences who wanted to distinguish themselves. This ranged from fans of different genres who may view a film like Alien (1979) as belonging to science fiction, and horror fan bases dismissing it as being inauthentic to either genre.[12] Further debates exist among fans of the genre with personal definitions of "true" horror films, such as fans who embrace cult figures like Freddy Kruger of the A Nightmare on Elm Street series, while others disassociate themselves from characters and series and focusing on genre auteur directors like Dario Argento, while others fans would deem Argento's films as too mainstream, having preferences more underground films.[13] Andrew Tudor wrote in Monsters and Mad Scientists: A Cultural History of the Horror Movie suggested that "Genre is what we collectively believe it to be"." (wikipedia.org) "A slasher film is a subgenre of horror films involving a killer stalking and murdering a group of people, usually by use of bladed or sharp tools such as knives, chainsaws, scalpels, etc.[1] Although the term "slasher" may occasionally be used informally as a generic term for any horror film involving murder, film analysts cite an established set of characteristics which set slasher films apart from other horror subgenres, such as monster movies, splatter films, supernatural and psychological horror films.[2] Critics cite the Italian giallo films and psychological horror films such as Peeping Tom (1960) and Psycho (1960) as early influences.[3][4][5] The genre hit its peak between 1978 and 1984 in an era referred to as the "Golden Age" of slasher films.[3] Notable slasher films include The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974), Black Christmas (1974), Halloween (1978), Friday the 13th (1980), A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984), Child's Play (1988), Candyman (1992), Scream (1996), I Know What You Did Last Summer (1997), and Valentine (2001). Many slasher films released decades ago continue to attract cult followings.[6] The slasher canon can be divided into three eras: the classical (1974–1993), the self-referential (1994–2000) and the neoslasher cycle (2000–2013).[7] Definition Slasher films typically adhere to a specific formula: a past wrongful action causes severe trauma that is reinforced by a commemoration or anniversary that reactivates or re-inspires the killer.[8][9] Built around stalk-and-murder sequences, the films draw upon the audience's feelings of catharsis, recreation, and displacement, as related to sexual pleasure.[10] Paste magazine's definition notes that, "slasher villains are human beings, or were human beings at some point ... Slasher villains are human killers whose actions are objectively evil, because they’re meant to be bound by human morality. That’s part of the fear that the genre is meant to prey upon, the idea that killers walk among us."[11] Films with similar structures that have non-human antagonists lacking a conscience, such as Alien or The Terminator, are not traditionally considered slasher films (though many slasher antagonists are superhuman, have supernatural traits, or possess slightly warped or abstract anthropomorphic forms both physically and metaphysically)....Common tropes The final girl trope is discussed in film studies as being a young woman (occasionally a young man) left alone to face the killer's advances in the movie's end.[8] Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis), the heroine in Halloween, is an example of a typical final girl.[9] Final girls are often, like Laurie Strode, virgins among sexually active teens.[13] Others have called the trope "self-mythologising" based on a handful of especially high profile examples, asserting that its prominence has been overstated – particularly the innocent, virginal qualities ascribed to putative final girls - and that, in the 21st century, the trope has been filtered through the lens of parody, subversion, and self-aware humour (e.g. Final Girl) rather than deployed sincerely.[14] When slasher films become franchises, they typically take on villain protagonist characteristics, with the series following the continued efforts of their antagonists, rather than any of the killer's disposable victims, including any individual entry's heroes or final survivor(s) (who, in so far as they continue to appear within the series, are often killed off immediately after their next on-screen appearance, which has become its own trope). Examples of antiheroes around whom the respective series have become centered include Michael Myers, Freddy Krueger, Jason Voorhees, Chucky and Leatherface.[15] The antagonist is envisioned and embedded into the public psyche as the main and most marketable/recognisable character, even if his screentime is dwarfed in any specific film by the nominal protagonists. The Scream film series is a rarity that follows its heroine Sidney Prescott (Neve Campbell) rather than masked killer Ghostface, whose identity changes from film to film, and is only revealed in each entry's finale.[16] Another alleged trope frequently associated with slasher discourse - and horror more broadly - is that of the "black character(s) dying first" (often formulated as "always dying first"). Actual analyses of the films, such as a 2013 investigative piece in Complex, have found that the trope is largely self-mythologising as opposed to being a statistical reality (per Complex, in only 10% of the fifty analysed movies, all containing one or more speaking black characters, did any of them die first)....1978–1984: Golden Age Jumpstarted by the massive success of John Carpenter's Halloween (1978), the era commonly cited as the Golden Age of slasher films is 1978–1984, with some scholars citing over 100 similar films released over the six-year period.[3][10][27] Despite most films receiving negative reviews, many Golden Age slasher films were extremely profitable and have established cult followings.[6] Many films reused Halloween's template of a murderous figure stalking teens, though they escalated the gore and nudity from Carpenter's restrained film. Golden Age slasher films exploited dangers lurking in American institutions such as high schools, colleges, summer camps, and hospitals.[77] 1978 Cashing in on the drive-in success of The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974), The Toolbox Murders was quickly and cheaply shot but did not generate the interest of the former films. Exploitative Killer's Delight is a San Francisco-set serial killer story claiming to take inspiration from Ted Bundy and the Zodiac Killer.[78] Leading up to Halloween's October release were August's gialli-inspired Eyes of Laura Mars (written by John Carpenter) and September's "babysitter in peril" TV Movie Are You in the House Alone? Of them, The Eyes of Laura Mars grossed $20 million against a $7 million budget.[79] Influenced by the French New Wave's Eyes Without a Face (1960), science fiction thriller Westworld (1973) and Black Christmas (1974), Halloween was directed, composed and co-written by Carpenter, who co-wrote it with his then-girlfriend and producing partner Debra Hill on a budget of $300,000 provided by Syrian-American producer Moustapha Akkad. To minimize costs, locations were reduced and time took place over a brief period.[80] Jamie Lee Curtis, daughter of Janet Leigh, was cast as the heroine Laurie Strode while veteran actor Donald Pleasence was cast as Dr. Sam Loomis, an homage to John Gavin's character in Psycho.[80] Halloween's opening tracks a six-year-old's point-of-view as he kills his older sister, a scene emulated in numerous films such as Blow Out (1981) and The Funhouse (1981). Carpenter denies writing sexually active teens to be victims in favor of a virginal "final girl" survivor, though subsequent filmmakers copied what appeared to be a "sex-equals-death" mantra. When shown an early cut of Halloween without a musical score, all major American studios declined to distribute it, one executive even remarking that it was not scary. Carpenter added music himself, and the film was distributed locally in four Kansas City theaters through Akkad's Compass International Pictures in October 1978. Word-of-mouth made the movie a sleeper hit that was selected to screen at the November 1978 Chicago Film Festival, where the country's major critics acclaimed it. Halloween grew into a major box office success, grossing over $70 million worldwide and selling over 20 million tickets in North America, becoming the most profitable independent film until being surpassed by Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1990).[80] 1979 Though the telekinesis-themed slasher Tourist Trap was initially unsuccessful, it has undergone a reappraisal by fans. 1979's most successful slasher was Fred Walton's When a Stranger Calls, which sold 8.5 million tickets in North America. Its success has largely been credited to its opening scene, in which a babysitter (Carol Kane) is taunted by a caller who repeatedly asks, "Have you checked the children?"[81] Less successful were Ray Dennis Steckler's burlesque slasher The Hollywood Strangler Meets the Skid Row Slasher and Abel Ferrara's The Driller Killer, both of which featured gratuitous on-screen violence against vagrant people. 1980 The election of Ronald Reagan as the 40th president of the United States drew in a new age of conservatism that ushered concern of rising violence on film.[1][27] The slasher film, at the height of its commercial power, also became the center of a political and cultural maelstrom. Sean S. Cunningham's sleeper hit Friday the 13th was the year's most commercially successful slasher film, grossing more than $59.7 million and selling nearly 15 million tickets in North America.[82] Despite a financial success, distributor Paramount Pictures was criticized for "lowering" itself to release a violent exploitation film, with Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert famously despising the film. Siskel, in his Chicago Tribune review, revealed the identity and fate of the film's killer in an attempt to hurt its box office, and provided the address of the chairman of Paramount Pictures for viewers to complain.[83] The MPAA was criticized for allowing Friday the 13th an R rating, but its violence would inspire gorier films to follow, as it set a new bar for acceptable levels of on-screen violence. The criticisms that began with Friday the 13th would lead to the genre's eventual decline in subsequent years.[84] The small-budget thrillers Silent Scream and Prom Night were box office hits with $7.9 and $14.8 million, respectively.[85] Jamie Lee Curtis starred in the independent Prom Night, as well studio films Terror Train and The Fog to earn her "scream queen" title.[9] MGM's the Halloween-clone He Knows You're Alone sold nearly 2 million tickets, though Paramount Pictures John Huston-directed Phobia only sold an estimated 22,000 tickets.[85] Two high-profile slasher-thrillers were met with protest, William Friedkin's Cruising and Gordon Willis' Windows, both of which equate homosexuality with psychosis. Cruising drew protests from gay rights groups, and though it pre-dates the AIDS crisis, the film's portrayal of the gay community fueled subsequent backlash once the virus became an epidemic.[27][86] Low budget exploitative films New Year's Evil, Don't Go in the House and Don't Answer the Phone! were called-out for misogyny that dwelled on the suffering of females exclusively.[8] Acclaimed filmmaker Brian De Palma's Psycho-homage Dressed to Kill drew a wave of protest from the National Organization for Women (NOW), who picketed the film's screening on the University of Iowa campus.[87] The year's most controversial slasher was William Lustig's Maniac, about a schizophrenic serial killer in New York. Maniac was maligned by critics. Vincent Canby of The New York Times said that watching the film was like "watching someone else throw up."[88] Lustig released the film unrated on American screens, sidestepping the MPAA to still bring in $6 million at the box office.[89][85] Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho's influence was felt two decades later in Cries in the Night[90] and The Unseen.[91] Joe D'Amato's gruesome Italian horror film Antropophagus and the Australian slasher Nightmares showed that the genre was spreading internationally.[92] 1981 Slasher films reached a saturation point in 1981, as heavily promoted movies like My Bloody Valentine and The Burning were box office failures.[27][10][85] After the success of Friday the 13th, Paramount Pictures picked up My Bloody Valentine with hopes to achieve similar success. The film became the subject of intense scrutiny in the wake of John Lennon's murder, and was released heavily edited; lacking the draw of gore, My Bloody Valentine barely sold 2 million tickets in North America, much less than the 15 million sold by Friday the 13th the year beforehand.[85] Thematically similar to My Bloody Valentine, The Prowler hoped to lure an audience with gore effects by Friday the 13th's Tom Savini but large MPAA edits contributed to its failure to find a nationwide distributor.[27] Suffering similar censorship was The Burning, which also employed Savini's special effects, though it does mark the feature film debuts of Brad Grey, Holly Hunter, Jason Alexander, Fisher Stevens, Bob Weinstein and Harvey Weinstein. Profits of Halloween and Friday the 13th drew studio interest, to varying success. Warner Bros.'s Eyes of a Stranger ($1.1 million) and Night School ($1.2 million), Paramount Pictures' The Fan ($3 million), Universal Pictures' The Funhouse ($8 million), and Columbia Pictures' Happy Birthday to Me ($10 million).[85] CBS' TV movie, Dark Night of the Scarecrow brought the genre to the small screen.[27] Two sequels had bigger body counts and more gore than their predecessors, but not higher box office intakes. Friday the 13th Part 2 sold 7.8 million tickets and Halloween II sold 9.2 million. Both sequels sold around half of their original film's tickets, though they were still very popular (Halloween II was the second highest-grossing horror film of the year behind An American Werewolf in London).[85] Independent companies churned out slasher films Final Exam, Bloody Birthday, Hell Night, Don't Go in the Woods... Alone!, Wes Craven's Deadly Blessing and Graduation Day.[85] Fantasy and sci-fi genres continued to blend with the slasher film in Strange Behavior, Ghostkeeper and Evilspeak. The international market found Italy's Absurd and Madhouse and Germany's Bloody Moon. 1982 Straight-to-video productions cut costs to maximize profit. The independent horror film Madman opened in New York City's top 10, according to Variety, but soon fell out of theaters for a much healthier life on home video.[27] The Dorm That Dripped Blood and Honeymoon Horror, each made for between $50–90,000, became successful in the early days of VHS.[85] Because of this change, independent productions began having difficulties finding theatrical distribution. Girls Nite Out had a very limited release in 1982 but was re-released in 1983 in more theaters until finally finding a home on VHS. Paul Lynch's Humongous was released through AVCO Embassy Pictures, but a change in management severely limited the film's theatrical release. Films such as Hospital Massacre and Night Warning enjoyed strong home rentals from video stores, though Dark Sanity, The Forest, Unhinged, Trick or Treats, and Island of Blood fell into obscurity with little theatrical releases and only sub-par video transfers.[93] Supernatural slasher films continued to build in popularity with The Slayer, The Incubus, Blood Song, Don't Go to Sleep and Superstition (the supernatural-themed Halloween III: Season of the Witch, though part of the Halloween franchise, does not adhere to the slasher film formula). Alone in the Dark was New Line Cinema's first feature film, released to little revenue and initially dismissed by critics, though the film has gained critical reappraisal. Director Amy Holden Jones and writer Rita Mae Brown gender-swapped to showcase exploitative violence against men in The Slumber Party Massacre,[93] while Visiting Hours pitted liberal feminism against macho right-wing bigotry with exploitative results. Friday the 13th Part III, the first slasher trilogy, was an enormous success, selling 12 million tickets and dethroning E.T.: The Extra Terrestrial from the top of the box office.[85] The film's iconic hockey mask has grown to pop-culture iconography. Universal Pictures had a tiny release for Death Valley, while Columbia Pictures found modest success with Silent Rage. Independent distributor Embassy Pictures released The Seduction to a surprising $11 million, an erotic slasher-thriller that predates blockbusters Fatal Attraction (1987) and Basic Instinct (1992) by several years.[85] Internationally, Australia released Next of Kin while Puerto Rico's Pieces was filmed in Boston and Madrid by an Italian-American producer with a Spanish director. Italian gialli saw slasher film influences in their releases for Sergio Martino's The Scorpion with Two Tails, Lucio Fulci's The New York Ripper and Dario Argento's Tenebrae.[93] 1983 Traditional slasher films saw less frequent output. The House on Sorority Row followed the same general plot as Prom Night (1980) with guilty teens stalked and punished for a terrible secret. The Final Terror borrows visual and thematic elements from Just Before Dawn (1981), as Sweet Sixteen borrows from Happy Birthday to Me (1981). The most successful slasher of the year was Psycho II, which grossed over $34 million at the box office. The film also reunited original Psycho (1960) cast members Anthony Perkins and Vera Miles.[94] 10 to Midnight, inspired by the real-life crimes of Richard Speck, promoted star Charles Bronson's justice-for-all character above its horror themes.[94] Robert Hiltzik's Sleepaway Camp was a home video hit, being unique for its pubescent victims and themes of paedophilia and transvestism. Sleepaway Camp featured homosexual scenes, which were taboo at the time.[94][95] In Canada, whodunit Curtains had a brief theatrical life before finding new life on VHS, while criticism toward American Nightmare's portrayal of prostitutes, drug addicts, and pornography addicts hurt its video rentals.[94] Sledgehammer was shot-on-video for just $40,000, with a gender-reversal climax showing Playgirl model Ted Prior as a "final guy."[27][85] Other home video slashers from the year include Blood Beat, Double Exposure, and Scalps, the latter claiming to be one of the most censored films in history.[94] Releases began to distance from the genre. The poster for Mortuary features a hand is bursting from the grave, though the undead have nothing to do with the film. Distributors were aware of fading box office profits, and they were attempting to hoodwink audiences into thinking long-shelved releases like Mortuary were different. 1984 The public had largely lost interest in theatrical released slashers, drawing a close to the Golden Age.[1][13] Production rates plummeted and major studios all but abandoned the genre that, only a few years earlier, had been very profitable. Many 1984 slasher films with brief theatrical runs found varying degrees of success on home video, such as Splatter University, Satan's Blade, Blood Theatre, Rocktober Blood and Fatal Games. Movies like The Prey and Evil Judgement were filmed years prior and finally were given small theatrical releases. Silent Madness used 3D to ride the success of Friday the 13th Part III (1982), though the effect did not translate to the VHS format.[27] Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter brought the saga of Jason Voorhees to a close, with his demise the main marketing tool. It worked, with The Final Chapter selling 10 million tickets in North America, hinting the series would continue even if Jason's demise marked a shift in the genre.[85] This shift was emphasized by the controversy from Silent Night, Deadly Night (1984): Protesters picketed theaters playing the film with placards reading, "Deck the hall with holly – not bodies!" Despite other Christmas-themed horror films, including the same year's Don't Open till Christmas, promotional material for Silent Night, Deadly Night featured a killer Santa with the tagline: "He knows when you've been naughty!" Released in November 1984 by TriStar Pictures, persistent carol-singers forced one Bronx cinema to pull Silent Night, Deadly Night a week into its run. Soon widespread outrage led to the film's removal, with only 741,500 tickets sold.[96][85] As interest in the Golden Age slasher waned, Wes Craven's A Nightmare on Elm Street revitalized the genre by mixing fantasy and the supernatural in a cost-effective way. Craven had toyed with slasher films before in Deadly Blessing (1981), though he was frustrated that the genre he had helped create with The Last House on the Left (1972) and The Hills Have Eyes (1977) had not benefited him financially. Developing A Nightmare on Elm Street since 1981, Craven recognized time running out due to declining revenues from theatrical slasher film releases.[97] A Nightmare on Elm Street and especially its villain Freddy Krueger (Robert Englund) became cultural phenomenons.[98] On a budget of just $1.8 million, the film was a commercial success, grossing more than $25.5 million in North America and launched one of the most successful film series in history.[85][98] A Nightmare on Elm Street provided the success that New Line Cinema needed to become a major Hollywood company. To this day, New Line is referred to as "The House That Freddy Built".[99] The final slasher film released during the Golden Age, The Initiation, was greatly overshadowed by A Nightmare on Elm Street (though both films feature dreams as plot points and a horribly burned "nightmare man").[27] The success of A Nightmare on Elm Street welcomed in a new wave of horror films that relied on special effects, almost completely silencing the smaller low-budget Golden Age features.[1][100] 1984–1994: Direct-to-video films and franchises Despite A Nightmare on Elm Street's success, fatigue hit the slasher genre, and its popularity had declined substantially. The home video revolution, fueled by the popularity of VHS, provided a new outlet for low-budget filmmaking. Without major studio backing for theatrical release, slasher films became second only to pornography in the home video market. The drop in budgets to accommodate a more economic approach was usually met with a decline in quality. Holdovers filmed during the Golden Age such as Too Scared to Scream (1985), The Mutilator (1985), Blood Rage (1987), Killer Party (1986) and Mountaintop Motel Massacre (1986) found video distribution. Mirroring the punk rock movement, novice filmmakers proved anyone could make a movie on home video, resulting in shot-on-video slashers Blood Cult (1985), The Ripper (1985), Spine (1986), Truth or Dare? (1986), Killer Workout (1987), and Death Spa (1989).[101] Lesser-known horror properties Sleepaway Camp, The Slumber Party Massacre and Silent Night, Deadly Night became series on home video. The Hills Have Eyes Part 2 (1985) and Friday the 13th: A New Beginning (1985) were theatrically released but neither film was embraced like A Nightmare on Elm Street Part 2: Freddy's Revenge (1985), a sequel rushed into production. Distinguished by overtly homoerotic undertones, Freddy's Revenge became the highest grossing horror film of 1985 and inspired "dream" slashers Dreamaniac (1986), Bad Dreams (1988), Deadly Dreams (1988), and Dream Demon (1988). Paramount Pictures released the parody April Fool's Day (1986) with hopes to start a sister series to its Friday the 13th property, though the film's modest box office run never led to a series. Three other spoofs, Evil Laugh (1986), The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 (1986) and Friday the 13th Part VI: Jason Lives (1986), were box office disappointments; Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 sold just 2 million tickets while Jason Lives sold 5.2 million, both significantly down from their predecessors.[102] Trying to cater the public of adult action thrillers that were popular in the 1980s, Sylvester Stallone's cop-thriller Cobra (1986) is a thinly-veiled slasher film advertised as an action movie, and sold 13.2 million tickets. The home video market made stars out of character actors such as Terry O'Quinn and Bruce Campbell, whose respective independent horror-thrillers The Stepfather (1987) and Maniac Cop (1988) found more support on home video than in theaters. Quinn returned for Stepfather II (1989) but chose not to reprise his role in Stepfather III (1992), Destroyer (1988), while Campbell followed a similar route with a cameo in Maniac Cop 2 (1990) and no participation in Maniac Cop III: Badge of Silence (1993). The Nightmare on Elm Street series dominated the late 1980s horror wave, with A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors (1987) selling 11.5 million tickets in North America, and A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master (1988) following another 12 million tickets. By comparison, Friday the 13th Part VII: The New Blood (1988) and Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers (1988) sold approximately 4.5 million tickets each, less than half of the Elm Street films. The personality-driven appeal of Freddy Krueger was not lost on filmmakers, as characters like Chucky and Candyman were given ample dialogue and placed in urban settings that had largely been ignored by the Golden Age. Chucky's Child's Play (1988) and its 1990 sequel sold over 14.7 million tickets combined, while Candyman (1992) sold a healthy 6.2 million. Both series fell out rather quickly, when Child's Play 3 (1991) selling only 3.5 million tickets in North America and Candyman: Farewell to the Flesh (1995) selling only 3.2 million.[103] Internationally, the slasher film remained profitable. Mexico released Zombie Apocalypse (1985), Don't Panic (1988), Grave Robbers (1990) and Hell's Trap (1990). Europe saw releases from Sweden's Blood Tracks (1985), The United Kingdom's Lucifer (1987), Spain's Anguish (1987) and Italy's StageFright (1987) and BodyCount (1987). In the Pacific, Australia released Symphony of Evil (1987), Houseboat Horror (1989), and Bloodmoon (1990), while Japan released Evil Dead Trap (1988).[104] By 1989 the major series had faded from public interest, resulting in box office failures from Friday the 13th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan (1989), A Nightmare on Elm Street 5: The Dream Child (1989) and Halloween 5: The Revenge of Michael Myers (1989).[15] The Dream Child's 5.6 million tickets were a sharp decline, while Jason Takes Manhattan and The Revenge of Michael Myers each sold only about 3 million tickets. Due to the declining ticket sales, rights to the Friday the 13th and Halloween series were sold to New Line Cinema and Miramax Films, respectively. Now owning both the Jason Voorhees and Freddy Krueger characters, New Line would look into a series-crossover event film. Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare (1991) and Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday (1993) began this crossover series, but profit losses from both films stalled the project for a decade. Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers (1995) was released under Miramax's Dimension Films banner to negative fan reaction and a weak box office.[105] 1994–present: Post-modern slashers Wes Craven's New Nightmare (1994) used characters from his original Elm Street film in self-referential and ironic ways, as the actors played versions of their true personas targeted by a Freddy Krueger-inspired demon. New Nightmare sold 2.3 million tickets the North American box office. The slasher film's surprising resurrection came in the form of Scream (1996), a box office smash and redefined the genre's rules. Directed by Craven and written by Kevin Williamson, Scream juggled postmodern humor with visceral horror. The film played on nostalgia for the Golden Age, but appealed to a younger audience with contemporary young actors and popular music. Williamson, a self-confessed fan of Halloween (1978), Prom Night (1980), and Friday the 13th Part VI: Jason Lives (1986), wrote the characters as well-versed in horror film lore and knowing all the clichés that the audience were aware of. The film grossed $173 million worldwide, it became both the highest grossing slasher film of all time and the first one to cross $100 million at the domestic box office, and the most successful horror film since The Silence of the Lambs (1991). The marketing for Scream distanced itself from the slasher subgenre as it passed itself as a "new thriller" that showcased the celebrity of its stars, promoting the appearances of then-popular stars Drew Barrymore, Courteney Cox and Neve Campbell over its violence. Williamson's follow-up, I Know What You Did Last Summer (1997), was heavily inspired by Prom Night and The House on Sorority Row (1983). Released less than a year after Scream to "critic proof" success, the film sold nearly 16 million tickets at the North American box office. Two months later Dimension Films released Scream 2 (1997) to the highest grossing opening weekend of any R-rated film at the time; the sequel sold 22 million tickets and was a critical hit. Taking note from the marketing success of Scream, the promotional materials for I Know What You Did Last Summer and Scream 2 relied heavily on the recognizability of cast-members Rebecca Gayheart, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Jennifer Love Hewitt, Joshua Jackson, Laurie Metcalf, Jerry O'Connell, Ryan Phillippe, Jada Pinkett, Freddie Prinze Jr. and Liev Schreiber. Scream and I Know What You Did Last Summer were internationally popular. In Asia, Hong Kong released The Deadly Camp (1999) and South Korea released Bloody Beach (2000), The Record (2001), and Nightmare (2000). Australia's postmodern Cut (2000) cast American actress Molly Ringwald as its heroine. Britain released Lighthouse (1999) and the Netherlands had two teen slashers, School's Out (1999) and The Pool (2001). Bollywood produced the first musical-slasher hybrid with Kucch To Hai (2003), as well as the more straightforward Dhund: The Fog (2003). Scream 2 marked a high-point for interest in the 1990s slasher film. Urban Legend (1998) was a modest hit, selling 8 million tickets, though slasher sales were already starting to drop. The sequels Halloween H20: 20 Years Later (1998), Bride of Chucky (1998) and I Still Know What You Did Last Summer (1998) were each box office successes, again marketing on the appeal their casts, which included Adam Arkin, Jack Black, LL Cool J, Jamie Lee Curtis, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Josh Hartnett, Katherine Heigl, Brandy Norwood, Jodi Lynn O'Keefe, Mekhi Phifer, John Ritter, Jennifer Tilly, and Michelle Williams. Low-budget slasher films The Clown at Midnight (1998) and Cherry Falls (2000) had trouble competing with big-budget horror films that could afford then-bankable actors. Scream 3 (2000), the first entry in the Scream series not written by Kevin Williamson, was another huge success with 16.5 million tickets sold, though poor word-of-mouth prevented it from reaching the heights of its predecessors. Urban Legends: Final Cut (2000) sold a meager 4 million tickets, less than half of what its predecessor had sold just two years earlier. Both the I Know What You Did Last Summer and Urban Legend sequels were relegated to the direct-to-video market. The genre during this period also produced films such as Valentine (2001) and Jason X (2002), as well as the critically maligned Halloween: Resurrection (2002), a sequel that sold less than half its predecessor's tickets. New Line Cinema's highly anticipated Freddy vs. Jason (2003), in development since 1986, took note from Scream, and mixed nostalgia with recognizable actors. It sold a massive 14 million tickets at the domestic box office, acting as a symbolic love-letter to slasher films of the Golden Age. Films like Final Destination (2000), Jeepers Creepers (2001) and American Psycho (2000) added slasher film values in mainstream movies, but they deviated from the standard formula set forth by movies such as Halloween (1978), A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984) and Scream (1996). The filmmakers behind Make a Wish (2002) and HellBent (2004) diversified their stories to appeal to their gay and lesbian audiences. African American filmmakers with largely black casts took stabs at the genre in Killjoy (2000), Holla If I Kill You (2003), Holla (2006), and Somebody Help Me (2007). With 2.5 million tickets sold on a low-budget, Wrong Turn (2003) launched a series of straight-to-video sequels. Filmmakers around the world tested the levels of on-screen violence an audience would accept. Musician-filmmaker Rob Zombie strove to bring the horror genre away from pop-culture and back to its exploitative roots in House of 1000 Corpses (2003) and The Devil's Rejects (2005). New French Extremity violence was influential in High Tension (2003), Them (2006), Inside (2007), Frontier(s) (2007) and Martyrs (2008), which became worldwide hits. Other European slasher films of the time included Austria's Dead in 3 Days (2006), Norway's Cold Prey (2006) and its 2008 sequel, as well as a number of British thrillers: Long Time Dead (2002), Creep (2004), Severance (2006), Wilderness (2008), ThanksKilling (2008), The Children (2008), Eden Lake (2008) The Gingerdead Man (2005), and Tormented (2009). In Asia, Taiwan released Invitation Only (2009), Scared (2005), and Slice (2009), while South Korea's released Bloody Reunion (2006) and Someone Behind You (2007) another extremely violent psychological supernatural slasher thriller based on a 2005 comic book "Two Will Come" and deals with the issue of family killings. Low-budget North American slasher films received limited theatrical releases before the DVD releases (which had replaced the obsolete VHS format). Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon (2006), Gingerdead Man 2: Passion of the Crust (2008), All the Boys Love Mandy Lane (2006), Dark Ride (2006), Hatchet (2006), Simon Says (2006), The Tripper (2006), See No Evil (2006), and Gutterballs (2008) each reference early 1980s slasher films, though they were sidelined to limited distribution in a market crowded by splatter films in the wake of Saw (2004) and its sequels. Wes Craven, one of the biggest names in horror for over three decades, directed box office disappointments My Soul to Take (2011) and Scream 4 (2011), which sold only 1.8 million and 4.7 million tickets, respectively. The Strangers (2008) and You're Next (2011) were applauded for their craftsmanship and post-9/11 twist on the home invasion genre, though neither film generated much interest beyond horror fans. 1980s homages Tucker & Dale vs. Evil (2010) and The Final Girls (2015) add thematic and emotional subtexts (i.e. stereotyping and grief), bringing praise for effectively mixing horror with heart.[106][107] Meta-horror sleeper-hit The Cabin in the Woods (2012) was a financial and critical success that shook preconceived notions, and twisted them unexpected ways that marked a conscious-turning point for the whole horror genre, not just slasher films: audiences wanted surprising and original thrillers that were not strict throwbacks. These small but noticeable changes would come to affect the genre in the coming decade." (wikipedia.org) "Michael Myers is a fictional character from the slasher film series Halloween. He first appears in John Carpenter's Halloween (1978) as a young boy who murders his elder sister, Judith Myers. Fifteen years later, he returns home to Haddonfield, Illinois, to murder more teenagers. In the original Halloween, the adult Michael Myers, referred to as The Shape in the closing credits, was portrayed by Nick Castle for most of the film and substituted by Tony Moran in the final scene where Michael's face is revealed. The character was created by John Carpenter and has been featured in twelve films, as well as novels, video games, and comic books. The character is the primary antagonist in all the franchise’s films with the exception of Halloween III: Season of the Witch, which is a standalone film, disconnected from the continuity of the other films. Since Castle and Moran put on the mask in the original film, six people have stepped into the same role. Castle, George P. Wilbur, Tyler Mane, and James Jude Courtney are the only actors to have portrayed Michael Myers more than once, with Mane and Courtney being the only actors to do so in consecutive films. Michael Myers is characterized as pure evil directly by the filmmakers who created and developed the character over nine films. In the first two films, Michael wears a Captain Kirk mask that is painted white. The mask, which was made from a cast of William Shatner's face, was originally used in the 1975 horror film The Devil's Rain.[2][3] Appearances Michael Myers appears in all of the Halloween films excluding the standalone Halloween III: Season of the Witch, although he is briefly seen on a television advertisement for the original film. Myers has also appeared in expanded universe novels and comic books. Films Michael Myers made his first appearance in the 1978 film Halloween. At the beginning of Halloween, a six-year-old Michael murders his teenage sister Judith on Halloween night in 1963. Fifteen years later, he escapes Smith's Grove Sanitarium and returns to his hometown of Haddonfield, Illinois, where he stalks a teenage babysitter named Laurie Strode, while his psychiatrist, Dr. Sam Loomis, attempts to track him down. After murdering three of Laurie's friends, Michael attacks her as well. She fends him off long enough for Loomis to arrive and shoot Michael six times, knocking him off a balcony; when Loomis goes to check the body, he finds that Michael has disappeared.[4] Halloween II (1981) picks up directly where the original ended. Michael follows Laurie to the local hospital and kills the staff one by one. Loomis discovers that Laurie is Michael's younger sister and rushes to the hospital to find them. Laurie shoots Michael in the eyes, and Loomis blows up the operating theater while Laurie escapes. Michael emerges from the explosion, engulfed in flames, before finally collapsing.[5] Michael does not appear again until Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers in 1988, which picks up ten years after the events of Halloween II. Michael has been in a coma since the explosion. He awakens when he learns Laurie has died in a car accident but has a nine-year-old daughter, Jamie Lloyd. Returning to Haddonfield, he causes a citywide blackout and massacres the town's police force and some civilians before being shot by the state police and falling down a mine shaft.[6] Halloween 5: The Revenge of Michael Myers begins immediately after the fourth film ends, with Michael escaping the mine shaft and being nursed back to health by a local hermit. One year later, he kills the hermit and returns to Haddonfield to find Jamie again, chasing her through his childhood home in a trap set by Loomis. He is eventually subdued by Loomis and taken to the local police station, but a mysterious "Man in Black" kills the officers and frees him.[7] Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers takes place six years after the events of the previous film. Jamie, now fifteen, has been kidnapped and impregnated by a druid cult led by the Man in Black, later revealed to be Dr. Terence Wynn, Loomis' friend and colleague from Smith's Grove. After giving birth, Jamie escapes with her baby, only to be killed by Michael. The baby is found by Tommy Doyle, whom Laurie babysat in the original film. Upon returning to Haddonfield once more, Michael kills relatives of Laurie's adoptive family, who are living in his childhood home. He is revealed to be inflicted with the Curse of Thorn, which drives him to kill his family. Wynn and his cult kidnap Jamie's baby, as well as Kara Strode and her son Danny. Loomis and Tommy follow them to Smith's Grove, where Michael ultimately turns against the cult and slaughters them all. Tommy injects Michael with chemicals and beats him unconscious. Loomis stays behind as the others escape. Michael's mask is shown on the ground as Loomis screams in the distance, leaving their fates unknown.[8] Ignoring the events of the previous three films, Halloween H20: 20 Years Later establishes that Michael has been missing since the hospital explosion twenty years ago. Laurie Strode has faked her death and gone into hiding in California under an assumed name. She is the headmistress of a private boarding school and has a teenage son named John. Michael tracks them down and murders John's friends. After getting her son to safety, Laurie decides to face Michael and ultimately decapitates him.[9] Halloween: Resurrection, which picks up three years after H20, retcons Michael's death, establishing that the man Laurie decapitated was a paramedic whom Michael had attacked and swapped clothes with before escaping. Michael tracks down an institutionalized Laurie and kills her. He returns to Haddonfield, where one year later, he kills a group of college students filming an internet reality show inside his childhood home. Contestant Sara Moyer and show producer Freddie Harris escape after electrocuting Michael. Michael's body and the bodies of his victims are then taken to the morgue. As the medical examiner begins to inspect Michael's body, he awakens.[10] The series was rebooted in 2007 with Rob Zombie's Halloween.[11] The film establishes from the beginning that Michael and Laurie are siblings, and has an increased focus on Michael's childhood: a ten-year-old Michael is shown killing animals and suffering emotional abuse at home. After killing his sister Judith and three others, he is committed to Smith's Grove where he takes up the hobby of creating papier-mâché masks and receives unsuccessful therapy from Dr. Sam Loomis. His mother Deborah commits suicide after witnessing him killing a nurse. As an adult, Michael returns to Haddonfield to reunite with Laurie, the only person he has ever loved. However, Laurie has no memory of Michael and is terrified of him, ultimately shooting him in the head in self-defense after he kills her friends and adoptive parents.[12] Zombie's story is continued in the sequel, Halloween II, which picks up right where the remake leaves off and then jumps ahead one year. Here, Michael is presumed dead but resurfaces after a vision of Deborah informs him that he must track Laurie down so that they can "come home." In the film, Michael and Laurie have a mental link, with the two sharing visions of their mother. During the film's climax, Laurie kills Michael by stabbing him repeatedly in the chest and face with his knife, with the final scene suggesting that she has taken on her brother's psychosis as she dons his mask.[13] Michael's continuity is again rebooted in the 2018 film Halloween, which is a direct sequel to the original film in which Michael and Laurie are not siblings. It is established that after being shot by Loomis, Michael fled to his childhood home and was arrested by the Haddonfield police. After forty years at Smith's Grove Sanitarium, he escapes again and returns to Haddonfield for another killing spree. He again encounters Laurie, who has been living in fear of his return. She shoots off two of his fingers and, with the help of her daughter Karen and granddaughter Allyson, traps him in the basement of her house, which they then set on fire. Michael is heard breathing at the end of the credits, indicated that he survived.[14][15][16] Halloween Kills is a direct sequel to the 2018 film in which Michael escapes the burning house and resumes his killing spree. In response, the enraged townspeople form a mob to hunt him down. While the mob proves to be unnecessarily destructive, they do eventually swarm him and seemingly kill him. As they attempt to confirm he's really dead, Michael rises again and massacres them all. He returns to his childhood home, where he kills Karen as well. Halloween Ends (2022) picks up four years after its predecessor, revealing that Michael went into hiding after killing Karen. Now in a badly weakened condition, Michael inhabits a sewer cavern where a troubled young man named Corey Cunningham, who is dating Allyson, encounters him. Corey begins helping Michael kill people and starts to manifest the same evil. He eventually steals Michael's mask and murders several people who wronged him. He also goes after Laurie, but is shot down a stairwell. Michael arrives to retrieve his mask and kills Corey. Laurie pins Michael to a table and slits his throat, but he chokes her with the last of his strength. Allyson intervenes and breaks Michael's arm, allowing Laurie to fatally slice his wrist. A town-wide procession takes place, where everyone watches Laurie dispose of Michael's corpse in an industrial shredder, ending his rampage once and for all....Concept and creation Characterization     I met this six-year-old child with this blank, pale, emotionless face, and the blackest eyes; the devil's eyes [...] I realized what was living behind that boy's eyes was purely and simply...evil. — Loomis' description of a young Michael was inspired by John Carpenter's experience with a real-life mental patient.[31] 'Michael Myers' was the real-life name of the head of the now-dissolved British company Miracle Films. Myers, after meeting producer Irwin Yablans, distributed John Carpenter's previous film Assault on Precinct 13 in England in 1977. His name was chosen as a tribute to this success.[32][33] A common characterization of Michael Myers is that he is pure evil. John Carpenter has described the character as "almost a supernatural force—a force of nature. An evil force that's loose," a force that is "unkillable".[34] Nicholas Rogers elaborates, "Myers is depicted as a mythic, elusive bogeyman, one of superhuman strength who bullets cannot kill, stab wounds, or fire."[35] Carpenter's inspiration for the "evil" that Michael would embody came when he was in college. While on a class trip at a mental institution in Kentucky, Carpenter visited "the most serious, mentally ill patients". Among those patients was a young boy around 12 to 13 years old. The boy gave a "schizophrenic stare", "a real evil stare", which Carpenter found "unsettling", "creepy", and "completely insane". Carpenter's experience would inspire the characterization that Loomis would give of Michael to Sheriff Brackett in the original film. Debra Hill has stated the scene where Michael kills a German Shepherd was done to illustrate how he is "really evil and deadly".[31] The ending scene of Michael being shot six times, and then disappearing after falling off the balcony, was meant to make the audience's imaginations run wild. Carpenter tried to keep the audience guessing as to who Michael Myers really is—he is gone, and everywhere at the same time; he is more than human; he may be supernatural, and no one knows how he got that way. To Carpenter, keeping the audience guessing was better than explaining away the character with "he's cursed by some..."[31] For Josh Hartnett, who portrayed John Tate in Halloween H20, "it's that abstract, it's easier for me to be afraid of it. You know, someone who just kind of appears and, you know [mimics stabbing noise from Psycho] instead of an actual human who you think you can talk to. And no remorse, it's got no feelings, that's the most frightening, definitely." Richard Schickel, film critic for TIME, felt Michael was "irrational" and "really angry about something", having what Schickel referred to as "a kind of primitive, obsessed intelligence". Schickel considered this the "definition of a good monster", by making the character appear "less than human", but having enough intelligence "to be dangerous".[34]     Michael Myers is enduring because he's pure evil. —Steve Miner[34] Dominique Othenin-Girard attempted to have audiences "relate to 'Evil', to Michael Myers' 'ill' side". Girard wanted Michael to appear "more human [...] even vulnerable, with contradicting feelings inside of him". He illustrated these feelings with a scene where Michael removes his mask and sheds a tear. Girard explains, "Again, to humanize him, to give him a tear. If Evil or in this case our boogeyman knows pain, or love or demonstrates a feeling of regret; he becomes even scarier to me if he pursues his malefic action. He shows an evil determination beyond his feelings. Dr. Loomis tries to reach his emotional side several times in [Halloween 5]. He thinks he could cure Michael through his feelings."[36] Daniel Farrands, the writer of The Curse of Michael Myers, describes the character as a "sexual deviant". According to him, the way Michael follows girls around and watches them contains a subtext of repressed sexuality. Farrands theorizes that, as a child, Michael became fixated on the murder of his sister Judith, and for his own twisted reasons felt the need to repeat that action over and over again, finding a sister-like figure in Laurie who excited him sexually. He also believes that by making Laurie Michael's literal sister, the sequels took away from the simplicity and relatability of the original Halloween. Nevertheless, when writing Curse, Farrands was tasked with creating a mythology for Michael which defined his motives and why he could not be killed. He says, "He can't just be a man anymore, he's gone beyond that. He's mythical. He's supernatural. So, I took it from that standpoint that there's something else driving him. A force that goes beyond that five senses that have infected this boy's soul and now are driving him." As the script developed and more people became involved, Farrands admits that the film went too far in explaining Michael Myers and that he himself was not completely satisfied with the finished product.[37] Michael does not speak in the films; the first time audiences ever hear his voice is in the 2007 Rob Zombie reboot. Michael speaks as a child at the beginning of the film, but while in Smith's Grove he stops talking completely. Rob Zombie originally planned to have the adult Michael speak to Laurie in the film's finale, simply saying his childhood nickname for her, "Boo". Zombie explained that this version was not used because he was afraid having the character talk at that point would demystify him too much and because the act of Michael handing Laurie the photograph of them together was enough.[38] Describing aspects of Michael Myers that he wanted to explore in the comic book Halloween: Night dance, writer Stefan Hutchinson mentions the character's "bizarre and dark sense of humor", as seen when he wore a sheet over his head to trick a girl into thinking he was her boyfriend, and the satisfaction he gets from scaring the characters before he murders them, such as letting Laurie know he is stalking her. Hutchinson feels there is a perverse nature to Michael's actions: "see the difference between how he watches and pursues women to men".[28] He also suggests that Michael Myers' hometown of Haddonfield is the cause of his behavior, likening his situation to that of Jack the Ripper, citing Myers as a "product of normal suburbia - all the repressed emotion of fake Norman Rockwell smiles". Hutchinson describes Michael as a "monster of abjection". When asked his opinion of Rob Zombie's expansion on Michael's family life, Hutchinson says that explaining why Michael does what he does "[reduces] the character". That being said, Hutchinson explores the nature of evil in the short story Charlie—included in the Halloween Night dance trade paperback—and says that Michael Myers spent 15 years "attuning himself to this force to the point where he is, as Loomis says, 'pure evil'".[39] Night dance artist Tim Seeley describes the character's personality in John Carpenter's 1978 film as "a void", which allows the character to be more open to interpretation than the later sequels allowed him. He surmises that Michael embodies a part of everyone; a part people are afraid will one day "snap and knife someone", which lends to the fear that Michael creates onscreen.[28] He was further characterized in the video game Dead by Daylight as "infused with a distilled and pure form of evil... For Michael, he had to kill to find some inner peace. As he took his sister's life, the police found a silent boy dressed as a clown at the scene. Sending Michael to a mental institution was a feeble attempt to save the child. Unsuccessful therapy and nightly screams just made him even more introvert [sic] and deranged."[40] In 2005, a study was conducted by the Media Psychology Lab of California State University, Los Angeles on the psychological appeal of movie monsters—vampires, Freddy Krueger, Frankenstein's monster, Jason Voorhees, Godzilla, Chucky, King Kong, the Alien, and the shark from Jaws—which surveyed 1,166 people nationwide (United States), with ages ranging from 16 to 91. It was published in the Journal of Media Psychology. In the survey, Michael was considered the "embodiment of pure evil"; compared to the other characters, Michael Myers was rated the highest. Michael was characterized as lending to the understanding of insanity, being ranked second to Hannibal Lecter in this category; he also placed first as the character who shows audiences the "dark side of human nature". He was rated second in the category "monster enjoys killing" by the participants, and believed to have "superhuman strength". Michael was rated highest among the characters in the "monster is an outcast" category.[1] John Carpenter, serving as an executive producer and creative consultant for the 2018 sequel to Halloween (1978), expressed his disagreement with Rob Zombie's portrayal of the character: "I thought that he took away the mystique of the story by explaining too much about [Michael Myers]. I don't care about that. He's supposed to be a force of nature. He's supposed to be almost supernatural."[41] Co-writer Danny McBride felt that previous sequels had made Michael less scary by giving him an inhuman level of invulnerability, preferring to humanize the character: "I think we're just trying to strip it down and just take it back to what was so good about the original... I want to be scared by something that I really think could happen. I think it's much more horrifying to be scared by someone standing in the shadows while you're taking the trash out as opposed to someone who can't be killed pursuing you."[42] History of the mask In the documentary 'Halloween' Unmasked 2000 it is revealed that Michael almost had an entirely different face. The first mask considered was an Emmett Kelly clown mask that the crew had put frizzy red hair on.[43] Ultimately, it was decided that the mask did not have the "creepy and unsettling atmosphere" they were looking for with Michael.[43] The second mask considered was a modified James T. Kirk mask that had the eyes opened up and the skin painted white.[43] After modification, this mask captured the blank and emotionless look they wanted.[43] In popular culture In Robot Chicken's nineteenth episode, "That Hurts Me", Michael Myers (voiced by Seth Green) appears as a housemate of "Horror Movie Big Brother", alongside fellow horror movie killers Jason Voorhees, Ghostface, Freddy Krueger, Pinhead, and Leatherface. Myers is evicted from the house, and takes off his mask to reveal himself to be the comedian Mike Myers, and utters his Austin Powers catchphrase, "I feel randy, baby, yeah!" He then proceeds to kill the host.[44] Michael appeared on 25 April 2008 episode of Ghost Whisperer, starring Jennifer Love Hewitt, titled "Horror Show". Here, a spirit communicates with Hewitt's character by placing her in scenes from the deceased's favorite horror movies, and one of the scenes involved Michael Myers.[45] The Cold Case episode "Bad Night" has the main characters reopening a 1978 murder case after new evidence indicates the victim was killed by a mentally disturbed man who, after seeing Halloween in theatres, went on a killing spree dressed as Michael.[46] Michael Myers makes a cameo appearance in Rob Zombie's The Haunted World of El Superbeasto, released on 22 September 2009.[47] Michael Myers appears in the DLC pack for the video game Call of Duty: Ghosts, Onslaught, as a playable character.[48] Myers also makes a playable appearance in the Halloween chapter of the video game Dead by Daylight, alongside Laurie Strode.[49] He also made cameos in a film within the film within a film Stab 8 in the 2022 film Scream, portrayed by co-director Matt Bettinelli-Olpin.[50] In one of the various merchandises to feature the character, Michael Myers made his video game debut with the 1983 Atari video game Halloween. The game is rare to find, often being played on emulators. No characters from the films are specifically named, with the goal of the game focusing on the player, who is a babysitter, protecting children from a "homicidal maniac [who] has escaped from a mental institution".[51] Michael was one of several horror icons to be included in the 2009 version of Universal Studios Hollywood's Halloween Horror Nights event, as a part of a maze entitled Halloween: The Life and Crimes of Michael Myers[52] Pop artist Eric Millikin created a large mosaic portrait of Michael Myers out of Halloween candy and spiders as part of his "Totally Sweet" series in 2013.[53][54] In 2018, Spirit Halloween released a lifesize animated Michael Myers prop to coincide with the 2018 film." (wikipedia.org) "Trick-or-treating is a traditional Halloween custom for children and adults in some countries. During the evening of Halloween, on October 31, people in costumes travel from house to house, asking for treats with the phrase "trick or treat". The "treat" is some form of confectionery, usually candy/sweets, although in some cultures money is given instead. The "trick" refers to a threat, usually idle, to perform mischief on the resident(s) or their property if no treat is given. Some people signal that they are willing to hand out treats by putting up Halloween decorations outside their doors; houses may also leave their porch lights on as a universal indicator that they have candy; some simply leave treats available on their porches for the children to take freely, on the honor system. The history of trick-or-treating traces back to Scotland and Ireland, where the tradition of guising, going house to house at Halloween and putting on a small performance to be rewarded with food or treats, goes back at least as far as the 16th century, as does the tradition of people wearing costumes at Halloween. There are many accounts from 19th-century Scotland and Ireland of people going house to house in costume at Halloween, reciting verses in exchange for food, and sometimes warning of misfortune if they were not welcomed.[1][2][3] In North America, the earliest known occurrence of guising is from 1911, when children were recorded as having done this in the province of Ontario, Canada.[4] The interjection "trick or treat!" was then first recorded in the same Canadian province of Ontario in 1917. While going house to house in costume has long been popular among the Scots and Irish, it is only in the 2000s that saying "trick or treat" has become common in Scotland and Ireland.[2] Prior to this, children in Ireland would commonly say "help the Halloween party" at the doors of homeowners.[2] The activity is prevalent in the Anglospheric countries of the United Kingdom, Ireland, the United States, Canada, and Australia. It also has extended into Mexico. In northwestern and central Mexico, the practice is called calaverita (Spanish diminutive for calavera, "skull" in English), and instead of "trick or treat", the children ask, "¿Me da mi calaverita?" ("[Can you] give me my little skull?"), where a calaverita is a small skull made of sugar or chocolate. History Ancient precursors Traditions similar to the modern custom of trick-or-treating extend all the way back to classical antiquity, although it is extremely unlikely that any of them are directly related to the modern custom. The ancient Greek writer Athenaeus of Naucratis records in his book The Deipnosophists that, in ancient times, the Greek island of Rhodes had a custom in which children would go from door-to-door dressed as swallows, singing a song, which demanded the owners of the house to give them food and threatened to cause mischief if the owners of the house refused.[5][6][7] This tradition was claimed to have been started by the Rhodian lawgiver Cleobulus.[8] Souling Since the Middle Ages, a tradition of mumming on a certain holiday has existed in parts of Britain and Ireland. It involved going door-to-door in costume, performing short scenes or parts of plays in exchange for food or drink. The custom of trick-or-treating on Halloween may come from the belief that supernatural beings, or the souls of the dead, roamed the earth at this time and needed to be appeased. "A soul-cake, a soul-cake, have mercy on all Christian souls for a soul-cake." — a popular English souling rhyme[9] It may otherwise have originated in a Celtic festival, Samhain, held on 31 October–1 November, to mark the beginning of winter, in Ireland, Scotland and the Isle of Man, and Calan Gaeaf in Wales, Cornwall, and Brittany. The festival is believed to have pre-Christian roots. In the 9th century, the Catholic Church made 1 November All Saints' Day. Among Celtic-speaking peoples, it was seen as a liminal time, when the spirits or fairies (the Aos Sí), and the souls of the dead, came into our world and were appeased with offerings of food and drink. Similar beliefs and customs were found in other parts of Europe. It is suggested that trick-or-treating evolved from a tradition whereby people impersonated the spirits, or the souls of the dead, and received offerings on their behalf. S. V. Peddle suggests they "personify the old spirits of the winter, who demanded reward in exchange for good fortune".[10] Impersonating these spirits or souls was also believed to protect oneself from them.[11] Starting as far back as the 15th century, among Christians, there had been a custom of sharing soul-cakes at Allhallowtide (October 31 through November 2).[12][13] People would visit houses and take soul-cakes, either as representatives of the dead, or in return for praying for their souls.[14] Later, people went "from parish to parish at Halloween, begging soul-cakes by singing under the windows some such verse as this: 'Soul, souls, for a soul-cake; Pray you good mistress, a soul-cake!'"[15] They typically asked for "mercy on all Christian souls for a soul-cake".[16] It was known as 'Souling' and was recorded in parts of Britain, Flanders, southern Germany, and Austria.[17] Shakespeare mentions the practice in his comedy The Two Gentlemen of Verona (1593), when Speed accuses his master of "puling [whimpering or whining] like a beggar at Hallowmas".[18] In western England, mostly in the counties bordering Wales, souling was common.[13] According to one 19th century English writer "parties of children, dressed up in fantastic costume […] went round to the farm houses and cottages, singing a song, and begging for cakes (spoken of as "soal-cakes"), apples, money, or anything that the goodwives would give them".[19] Guising "Guising" redirects here. For other uses, see Guising (disambiguation). Halloween shop in Derry, Northern Ireland. Halloween masks are called ‘false faces’ in Ireland and Scotland. In Scotland and Ireland, "guising" – children going from door to door in disguise – is traditional, and a gift in the form of food, coins or "apples or nuts for the Halloween party" (and in more recent times, chocolate) is given out to the children.[2][20][21] The tradition is called "guising" because of the disguises or costumes worn by the children.[3][22] In the West Mid Scots dialect, guising is known as "galoshans".[23] In Scotland, youths went house to house in white with masked, painted or blackened faces, reciting rhymes and often threatening to do mischief if they were not welcomed.[24][25] Guising has been recorded in Scotland since the 16th century, often at New Year. The Kirk Session records of Elgin name men and women who danced at New Year 1623. Six men, described as guisers or "gwysseris" performed a sword dance wearing masks and visors covering their faces in the churchyard and in the courtyard of a house. They were each fined 40 shillings.[26] A record of guising at Halloween in Scotland in 1895 describes masqueraders in disguise carrying lanterns made out of scooped out turnips, visit homes to be rewarded with cakes, fruit, and money.[27] In Ireland, children in costumes would commonly say "Help the Halloween Party" at the doors of homeowners.[2][28] Halloween masks are referred to as "false faces" in Ireland and Scotland.[29][30] A writer using Scots language recorded guisers in Ayr, Scotland in 1890:     I had mind it was Halloween . . . the wee callans (boys) were at it already, rinning aboot wi’ their fause-faces (false faces) on and their bits o’ turnip lanthrons (lanterns) in their haun (hand).[30] Guising also involved going to wealthy homes, and in the 1920s, boys went guising at Halloween up to the affluent Thorntonhall, South Lanarkshire.[31] An account of guising in the 1950s in Ardrossan, North Ayrshire, records a child receiving 12 shillings and sixpence, having knocked on doors throughout the neighbourhood and performed.[32] Growing up in Derry, Northern Ireland in the 1960s, The Guardian journalist Michael Bradley recalls children asking, “Any nuts or apples?”.[33] In Scotland and Ireland, the children are only supposed to receive treats if they perform a party trick for the households they go to. This normally takes the form of singing a song or reciting a joke or a funny poem which the child has memorised before setting out.[32][20] While going from door to door in disguise has remained popular among Scots and Irish at Halloween, the North American saying "trick-or-treat" has become common in the 2000s.[2][28] Spread to North America Girl in a Halloween costume in 1928 in Ontario, Canada, the same province where the Scottish Halloween custom of "guising" is first recorded in North America The earliest known occurrence of the practice of guising at Halloween in North America is from 1911, when a newspaper in Kingston, Ontario, Canada reported on children going "guising" around the neighborhood.[4] American historian and author Ruth Edna Kelley of Massachusetts wrote the first book length history of the holiday in the US; The Book of Hallowe'en (1919), and references souling in the chapter "Hallowe'en in America"; "The taste in Hallowe'en festivities now is to study old traditions, and hold a Scotch party, using Burn's poem Hallowe'en as a guide; or to go a-souling as the English used. In short, no custom that was once honored at Hallowe'en is out of fashion now."[34] Kelley lived in Lynn, Massachusetts, a town with 4,500 Irish immigrants, 1,900 English immigrants, and 700 Scottish immigrants in 1920.[35] In her book, Kelley touches on customs that arrived from across the Atlantic; "Americans have fostered them, and are making this an occasion something like what it must have been in its best days overseas. All Hallowe'en customs in the United States are borrowed directly or adapted from those of other countries".[36] While the first reference to "guising" in North America occurs in 1911, another reference to ritual begging on Halloween appears, place unknown, in 1915, with a third reference in Chicago in 1920.[37] The emergence of "Trick or treat!" The interjection "Trick or treat!" — a request for sweets or candy, originally and sometimes still with the implication that anyone who is asked and who does not provide sweets or other treats will be subjected to a prank or practical joke — seems to have arisen in central Canada, before spreading into the northern and western United States in the 1930s and across the rest of the United States through the 1940s and early 1950s.[38] Initially it was often found in variant forms, such as "tricks or treats," which was used in the earliest known case, a 1917 report in The Sault Daily Star in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario:[39]     Almost everywhere you went last night, particularly in the early part of the evening, you would meet gangs of youngsters out to celebrate. Some of them would have adopted various forms of "camouflage" such as masks, or would appear in long trousers and big hats or with long skirts. But others again didn't. . . . "Tricks or treats" you could hear the gangs call out, and if the householder passed out the "coin" for the "treats" his establishment would be immune from attack until another gang came along that knew not of or had no part in the agreement.[40] Newspaper clipping of kids trick-or-treating in Beaumont in 1950 As shown by word sleuth Barry Popik,[41] who also found the first use from 1917,[39] variant forms continued, with "trick or a treat" found in Chatsworth, Ontario in 1921,[42] "treat up or tricks" and "treat or tricks" found in Edmonton, Alberta in 1922,[43] and "treat or trick" in Penhold, Alberta in 1924.[44] The now canonical form of "trick or treat" was first seen in 1917 in Chatsworth, only one day after the Sault Ste. Marie use,[45] but "tricks or treats" was still in use in the 1966 television special, It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown.[41] The thousands of Halloween postcards produced between the start of the 20th century and the 1920s commonly show children but do not depict trick-or-treating.[46] The editor of a collection of over 3,000 vintage Halloween postcards writes, "There are cards which mention the custom [of trick-or-treating] or show children in costumes at the doors, but as far as we can tell they were printed later than the 1920s and more than likely even the 1930s. Tricksters of various sorts are shown on the early postcards, but not the means of appeasing them".[47] Trick-or-treating does not seem to have become a widespread practice until the 1930s, with the first U.S. appearance of the term in 1932,[48] and the first use in a national publication occurring in 1939.[49] Behavior similar to trick-or-treating was more commonly associated with Thanksgiving from 1870 (shortly after that holiday's formalization) until the 1930s. In New York City, a Thanksgiving ritual known as Ragamuffin Day involved children dressing up as beggars and asking for treats, which later evolved into dressing up in more diverse costumes.[50][51] Increasing hostility toward the practice in the 1930s eventually led to the begging aspects being dropped, and by the 1950s, the tradition as a whole had ceased. Increased popularity Almost all pre-1940 uses of the term "trick-or-treat" are from the United States and Canada. Trick-or-treating spread throughout the United States, stalled only by World War II sugar rationing that began in April, 1942 and lasted until June, 1947.[52][53] Magazine advertisement in 1962 Early national attention to trick-or-treating was given in October, 1947 issues of the children's magazines Jack and Jill and Children's Activities,[54] and by Halloween episodes of the network radio programs The Baby Snooks Show in 1946 and The Jack Benny Show and The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet in 1948.[55] Trick-or-treating was depicted in the Peanuts comic strip in 1951.[56] The custom had become firmly established in popular culture by 1952, when Walt Disney portrayed it in the cartoon Trick or Treat, and Ozzie and Harriet were besieged by trick-or-treaters on an episode of their television show.[57] In 1953 UNICEF first conducted a national campaign for children to raise funds for the charity while trick-or-treating.[58] Although some popular histories of Halloween have characterized trick-or-treating as an adult invention to re-channel Halloween activities away from Mischief Night vandalism, there are very few records supporting this. Des Moines, Iowa is the only area known to have a record of trick-or-treating being used to deter crime.[59] Elsewhere, adults, as reported in newspapers from the mid-1930s to the mid-1950s, typically saw it as a form of extortion, with reactions ranging from bemused indulgence to anger.[60] Likewise, as portrayed on radio shows, children would have to explain what trick-or-treating was to puzzled adults, and not the other way around. Sometimes even the children protested: for Halloween 1948, members of the Madison Square Boys Club in New York City carried a parade banner that read "American Boys Don't Beg."[61] The National Confectioners Association reported in 2005 that 80 percent of adults in the United States planned to give out confectionery to trick-or-treaters,[62] and that 93 percent of children, teenagers, and young adults planned to go trick-or-treating or participating in other Halloween activities.[63] Phrase introduction to the UK and Ireland Despite the concept of trick-or-treating originating in Britain and Ireland in the form of souling and guising, the use of the term "trick or treat" at the doors of homeowners was not common until the 1980s, with its popularisation in part through the release of the film E.T.[64] Guising requires those going door-to-door to perform a song or poem without any jocular threat,[32] and according to one BBC journalist, in the 1980s, "trick or treat" was still often viewed as an exotic and not particularly welcome import, with the BBC referring to it as "the Japanese knotweed of festivals" and "making demands with menaces".[65] In Ireland before the phrase "trick or treat" became common in the 2000s, children would say "Help the Halloween Party".[2] Very often, the phrase "trick or treat" is simply said and the revellers are given sweets, with the choice of a trick or a treat having been discarded. Etiquette Two children trick-or-treating on Halloween in Arkansas, United States Trick-or-treating typically begins at dusk on October 31. Some municipalities choose other dates.[66][67][68][69][70][71] Homeowners wishing to participate sometimes decorate their homes with artificial spider webs, plastic skeletons and jack-o-lanterns. Conversely, those who do not wish to participate may turn off outside lights for the evening or lock relevant gates and fences to keep people from coming onto their property. In most areas where trick-or-treating is practiced, it is considered an activity for children. Some jurisdictions in the United States forbid the activity for anyone over the age of 12.[72] Dressing up is common at all ages; adults will often dress up to accompany their children, and young adults may dress up to go out and ask for gifts for a charity. Local variants U.S. and Canada Children of the St. Louis, Missouri, area are expected to perform a joke, usually a simple Halloween-themed pun or riddle, before receiving any candy; this "trick" earns the "treat".[73] Children in Des Moines, Iowa also tell jokes or otherwise perform before receiving their treat. In some parts of Canada, children sometimes say "Halloween apples" instead of "trick or treat". This probably originated when the toffee apple was a popular type of candy. Apple-giving in much of Canada, however, has been taboo since the 1960s when stories (of almost certainly questionable authenticity) appeared of razors hidden inside Halloween apples; parents began to check over their children's fruit for safety before allowing them to eat it. In Quebec, children also go door to door on Halloween. However, in French-speaking neighbourhoods, instead of "Trick or treat", they will simply say "Halloween", though it traditionally used to be "La charité, s'il-vous-plaît" ("Charity, please").[74] Trunk-or-treat Trunk-or-treating event held at St. John Lutheran Church & Early Learning Center in Darien, Illinois Some organizations around the United States and Canada sponsor a "trunk-or-treat" on Halloween night (or, on occasion, a day immediately preceding Halloween, or a few days from it, on a weekend, depending on what is convenient). Trunk-or-treating is done from parked car to parked car in a local parking lot, often at a school or church. The activity makes use of the open trunks of the cars, which display candy, and often games and decorations. Some parents regard trunk-or-treating as a safer alternative to trick-or-treating,[75] while other parents see it as an easier alternative to walking the neighborhood with their children. This annual event began in the mid-1990s as a "fall festival" for an alternative to trick-or-treating, but became "trunk-or-treat" two decades later. Some have called for more city or community group-sponsored trunk-or-treats, so they can be more inclusive.[76] By 2006 these had become increasingly popular.[77] Portugal and Iberian Peninsula In Portugal, children go from house to house on All Saints Day and All Souls Day, carrying pumpkin carved lanterns called coca,[78] asking everyone they see for Pão-por-Deus singing rhymes where they remind people why they are begging, saying "...It is for me and for you, and to give to the deceased who are dead and buried"[79] or "It is to share with your deceased"[80] In the Azores the bread given to the children takes the shape of the top of a skull.[81] The tradition of pão-por-Deus was already recorded in the 15th century.[82] In Galicia, particularly in the island of A Illa de Arousa, a similar tradition exists where children ask for alms (usually bread, sweets, fruits, chestnuts, money or small toys) with the phrase "unha esmoliña polos defuntiños que van alá" ("a little charity for the little deceased who are there").[83] Scandinavia In Sweden, children dress up as witches and monsters when they go trick-or-treating on Maundy Thursday (the Thursday before Easter) while Danish children dress up in various attires and go trick-or-treating on Fastelavn (or the next day, Shrove Monday). In Norway, the practice is quite common among children, who come dressed up to people's doors asking for, mainly, candy. The Easter witch tradition is done on Palm Sunday in Finland (virvonta). Europe In parts of Flanders, some parts of the Netherlands, and most areas of Germany, Switzerland, and Austria, children go to houses with home-made beet lanterns or with paper lanterns (which can hold a candle or electronic light), singing songs about St. Martin on St. Martin's Day (the 11th of November), in return for treats.[84] The equivalent of "trick-or-treat" in German language is "Süßes oder Saures", asking for sweeties or threatening something less pleasant. In Northern Germany and Southern Denmark, children dress up in costumes and go trick-or-treating on New Year's Eve in a tradition called "Rummelpott [de]".[85] Trick-or-treat for charity UNICEF started a program in 1950 called Trick-or-Treat for UNICEF in which trick-or-treaters ask people to give money for the organization, usually instead of collecting candy. Participating trick-or-treaters say when they knock at doors "Trick-or-treat for UNICEF!"[86] This program started as an alternative to candy. The organization has long produced disposable collection boxes that state on the back what the money can be used for in developing countries. In Canada, students from the local high schools, colleges, and universities dress up to collect food donations for the local Food Banks as a form of trick-or-treating. This is sometimes called "Trick-or-Eat"." (wikipedia.org) "In cooking, a chef's knife, also known as a cook's knife, is a cutting tool used in food preparation. The chef's knife was originally designed primarily to slice and disjoint large cuts of beef. Today it is the primary general-utility knife for most Western cooks. A chef's knife generally has a blade eight inches (20 centimeters) in length and 1+1⁄2 inches (3.8 cm) in width, although individual models range from 6 to 14 inches (15 to 36 centimetres) in length. There are two common types of blade shape in western chef's knives, French and German. German-style knives are more deeply and continuously curved along the whole cutting edge; the French style has an edge that is straighter until the end and then curves up to the tip. Japanese kitchen knives have come under Western influence since the Meiji era, and many hybrid versions are available. The gyuto (牛刀 ぎゅうとう, gyūtō) "beef knife" is the Japanese term for a French (or Western) chef's knife. The gyuto were originally, and sometimes still called yo-boucho 洋包丁 meaning "Western Chefs Knife". The Santoku "three-virtue" knife is a style hybridized with traditional knives for more functionality. It is smaller, lighter and sharper with a different blade shape.[1] The Chinese chef's knife is completely different and resembles a cleaver. It is, however, functionally analogous to the Western chef's knife in that it's a general-purpose knife not designed for breaking bones. A modern chef's knife is a multi-purpose knife designed to perform well at many differing kitchen tasks, rather than excelling at any one in particular. It can be used for mincing, slicing, and chopping vegetables, slicing meat, and disjointing large cuts. Physical characteristics Chef's knives are made with blades that are either forged or stamped:     Forged: A hand forged blade is made in a multi-step process by skilled manual labor. A blank of steel is heated to a high temperature, and beaten to shape the steel. After forging, the blade is ground and sharpened. Forged knives are usually also full-tang, meaning the metal in the knife runs from the tip of the knifepoint to the far end of the handle. Commercially made forged knives are struck in a power hammer to produce features such as the bolster.     Stamped: A stamped blade is cut to shape directly from cold rolled steel, heat-treated for strength and temper, then ground, sharpened, and polished....Handles are made of wood, steel, or synthetic/composite materials. Edge The edge may be ground in different ways:     Double grind, V-shape, single or double Bevel.[3]     Convex edge.[3]     Hollow-ground.[3]     Single grind or chisel edge.[3] In order to improve the chef's knife's multi-purpose abilities, some owners employ differential sharpening along the length of the blade. The fine tip, used for precision work such as mincing, might be ground with a very sharp, acute cutting bevel; the midsection or belly of the blade receives a moderately sharp edge for general cutting, chopping and slicing, while the heavy heel or back of the cutting edge is given a strong, thick edge for such heavy-duty tasks as disjointing beef. Technique Holding a knife by its bolster Technique for the use of a chef's knife is an individual preference. For more precise control, most cooks prefer to grip the blade itself, with the thumb and the index finger grasping the blade just to the front of the finger guard and the middle finger placed just opposite, on the handle side of the finger guard below the bolster. This is commonly referred to as a "pinch grip".[4] Those without culinary training often grip the handle, with all four fingers and the thumb gathered underneath.[citation needed] For fine slicing, the handle is raised up and down while the tip remains in contact with the cutting board and the cut object is pushed under the blade." (wikipedia.org) "A cleaver is a large knife that varies in its shape but usually resembles a rectangular-bladed hatchet. It is largely used as a kitchen or butcher knife and is mostly intended for splitting up large pieces of soft bones and slashing through thick pieces of meat. The knife's broad side can also be used for crushing in food preparation (such as garlic) and can also be used to scoop up chopped items. Tools described as cleavers have been in use since the Acheulean period. "Cleaver" was commonly spelled clever in the late 17th century.[1] Design In contrast to other kitchen knives, the cleaver has an especially tough edge meant to withstand repeated blows directly into thick meat, dense cartilage, bone, and the cutting board below. This resilience is accomplished by using a softer, tougher steel and a thicker blade, because a harder steel or thinner blade might fracture or buckle under hard use. In use, it is swung like a meat tenderizer or hammer – the knife's design relies on sheer momentum to cut efficiently; to chop straight through rather than slicing in a sawing motion. Part of the momentum derives from how hard the user swings the cleaver, and the other part from how heavy the cleaver is. Because of this, the edge of a meat cleaver does not need to be particularly sharp – in fact, a knife-sharp edge on a cleaver is undesirable. The grind for a meat cleaver, at approximately 25°, is much blunter than for other kitchen knives.[2] The tough metal and thick blade of a cleaver also make it a suitable tool for crushing with the side of the blade, whereas some hard, thin slicing knives could crack under such repeated stress. Some cleavers have a small hole, at the top front corner, for hanging them on a wall. A butcher does not typically lay them flat, as the blade may dull or get damaged. Use Cleavers are primarily used for cutting through thin or soft bones and sinew. With a chicken, for example, it can be used to chop through the bird's thin bones or to separate ribs. Cleavers can also be used in preparation of hard vegetables and other foods, such as squash, where a thin slicing blade runs the risk of shattering." (wikipedia.org)
  • Condition: New other (see details)
  • Condition: Item is in new condition; packaging may have storage wear. Please see photos and description.
  • Light Color: Red
  • Occasion: Halloween
  • Power Source: Battery
  • Color: Multicolor
  • Year Manufactured: 2018
  • Material: Plastic
  • Item Length: 6.9 ft
  • Installation Area: Indoor
  • Number of Lights: 8
  • Brand: Unbranded
  • Design: Novelty
  • Type: String Light
  • Control Style: Switch
  • Era: 1980s
  • Cord Color: Black
  • Original/Reproduction: Original
  • Features: Battery Powered, Portable
  • Time Period Manufactured: 2010-2019
  • Country/Region of Manufacture: China
  • Lighting Technology: LED

PicClick Insights - BLOODY KNIFE STRING LIGHTS Sound & Halloween Theme Music battery powered rare PicClick Exclusive

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